Dubai

Emaar Properties witnessed a revival in trading interest after hitting its key support area earlier in the week, and the Dubai index closed marginally higher.

Emaar Properties closed 2.39 per cent higher to be at Dh7.14. The Dubai Financial Market General Index closed 0.32 per cent higher at 3,369.85.

Khaleeji Commercial Bank, which listed on Tuesday, shares hit upper limit for a second consecutive session. Union Properties witnessed a decent recovery.

Other stocks remained almost steady. Tabreed closed 1.09 per cent lower at Dh1.81. Dubai Islamic Bank closed 0.69 per cent lower at Dh6.18.

“Banks specially DIB clearly seeing buying activity but in an aggressive way, some buyer is trying to inflate prices lifting the name 5 fills higher and placing big buying orders at market, stock has a strong resistance at the Dh6.25,” Hisham Khairy, head of institutional trading at Menacorp said in a morning note.

Emaar Development closed 0.59 per cent lower at Dh5.15. Dubai Investments closed 0.82 per cent higher at Dh2.46. “An aggressive buyer has been lifting DIC from Dh2.30, the stock faces a strong resistance around the Dh2.47,” said Khairy.

Trading value remained subdued, and stayed at Dh292 million.

Sideways movement

ADX witnessed sideways movement, with most of the stocks ending almost flat.

Abu Dhabi index may witness more weakness, Khairy said.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange general index closed 0.19 per cent lower at 4,358.98.

The Saudi’s Tadawul index closed 0.18 per cent higher at 7,212.62, a day after the budget was announced.

Consumer services index was the biggest gainer for the day, while a few other indices ended in negative zone.

“We expect bank stocks to react positively to the economic stimulus. Cement share prices are already rallying on speculation, but we think the sector’s woes are far from over,” Vrajesh Bhandari, portfolio manager at Al Mal Capital said ahead of the budget.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, the Qatar exchange index closed 0.03 per cent lower at 8,520.21.

The Muscat MSM 30 index closed flat at 5,069.91. The Bahrain bourse all index closed 0.27 per cent lower at 1,265.41, taking the year to date returns at 3.68 per cent.

The Kuwait Stock Exchange index closed at 6,384.48, down 0.56 per cent. Sectors like telecommunications, real estate among others weighed on the index, while oil and gas index, consumer services and banks were among the winners.