Dubai: Emaar Properties weighed on Dubai index again.

Local equity markets witnessed a gap down opening, and briefly recovered during mid-session, almost touched the opening levels, but profit-taking on Emaar brought the index down again.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index closed 0.81 per cent lower at 3,554.46.

“If the resistance at 3,658 holds strong Dubai index shall form the sideways pattern in the coming weeks. Breakover shall ignite next leg up towards 3,900 and higher,” said Shiv Prakash, senior analyst with National Bank of Abu Dhabi Securities.

Emaar Properties closed 2.24 per cent lower at Dh7.41. Drake and Scull closed 2.2 per cent higher at Dh0.489. Gulf Navigation was the actively traded stock, closed 0.63 per cent higher at Dh1.60. Gulf Navigation witnessed a bulk deal of more than 185 million shares in the last ten minutes of trade. Gulf Navigation contributed to 30 per cent of the total volumes of Dh850 million. Other stocks like Union Porperties, Emaar Properties, Amanat and Drake and Scull contributed to only Dh6-155 million to the total volumes. Among the other gainers, Union Properties closed 0.88 per cent higher at Dh1.14. Amanat rose 0.95 per cent to be at Dh0.961. Amanat may advance and target Dh1.00/1.04 in the coming few sessions. Traders who bought near the recommended level at AED0.93 may look to hold and add further, while trailing the stop loss higher to Dh0.90 level, Prakash said.

Out of 36 stocks traded on the exchange, shares of 17 firms fell, while other 15 rose. The rest remained steady.

“Traders may look to book partial gains on those stocks which have rallied in the recent past and shift to those giving fresh bullish breakouts,” Prakash added, referring to stocks like Tabreed, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

Getting back

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General index closed 0.76 per cent lower at 4,462.99.

“Traders may look to book partial profits in ADX index and get back in from the lower support levels,” said Prakash.

Etisalat closed 0.54 per cent lower at Dh18.35, while First Gulf Bank closed 1.58 per cent lower at Dh12.45. Eshraq Properties closed fell 0.96 per cent to be at Dh1.03.

Eshraq is trading near the support at Dh1.03, if broken, it shall target the recent low at Dh0.95 and lower. Investors may look to sell below Dh1.03 while placing stop-loss over Dh1.08 level, Prakash said.

Buying action was seen in Methaq, which rallied to Dh0.95, before closing 0.04 fils higher at Dh0.93. Elsewhere in the Gulf, the Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index closed 0.35 per cent higher at 7,090.91.

Alinma Bank closed more than 1 per cent higher at 14.75 Saudi Riyals, while Saudi Basic Industries closed 0.23 per cent lower at 94.50 riyals. Al Rajhi Bank closed 0.43 per cent higher at 63.75 riyals.

Dar Alarkan Real Estate Development Co. closed 1.69 per cent higher at 6 riyals.

The Qatar exchange index closed flat at 10,224.13. Muscat MSM 30 index closed 0.15 per cent lower at 5,728.65.