Dubai Financial Market declines as real estate worries linger

Dubai: The Dubai bourse’s main index declined on Monday, hurt by Arabtec’s second day of declines and as lingering real estate worries pushed property heavyweights into the red.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index closed down 0.86 per cent or 23.3 points at 2,682.11 points, while Abu Dhabi’s ADX inched 0.27 per cent lower at 5,046.91 points.

Arabtec Holding fell for a second straight day and continued to hover at six-month lows after dropping another 10%. The Dubai-listed contractor earlier reported that it swung to a third-quarter loss, which analysts at FAB Securities said was the weakest bottom-line since the company’s 2016 fourth-quarter.

“Higher debt and decrease in cash balance could lead to stressed balance sheet and the company would face difficulty in raising the fund for its projects considering tight liquidity position in the market,” the analysts wrote in a client note.

“Delay in the closure of its legacy projects, higher operating expenditure, continued slowdown in new deals and the weak real estate sector would remain a key negatives for the stocks.”

DAMAC Properties slid 3.2%. It had previously reported a 78% drop in third-quarter profit as the emirate witnesses a protracted slowdown at its property sector. DAMAC shares have nearly halved this year with profits contracting in the first three quarters.

In Saudi Arabia, the benchmark index gained 0.9 per cent, supported by banking stocks, with National Commercial Bank gaining 1.3 per cent and Al Rajhi Bank rising about 1 per cent. Egypt’s key EGX30 fell 1.2 per cent, while Qatar dipped 0.2 per cent.