Abu Dhabi index outperforms Dubai again

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange outperformed the Dubai Financial Market for the third consecutive week, accumulating more than 13 per cent of gains since the beginning of the year, compared to 1.8 per cent worth of losses in Dubai since January.

The value of traded shares amounted to Dh17.5 billion, and was almost evenly distributed between the two markets, with the Abu Dhabi index accounting for 53.7 per cent.

"All indices ended the week with gains in excess of two per cent, where Dubai advanced 2.56 per cent to 5,824.22 and Abu Dhabi 2.13 per cent to 5,145.19, lifting the market capitalisation up by Dh18.5 billion to Dh883.47 billion," said Mohammad Ali Yasin, managing director of Shuaa Securities.

The Emirates Securities general index advanced 2.13 per cent to end the week at 6,338.26, with Dh10 billion of the capital gains recorded in Abu Dhabi and Dh8.5 billion in Dubai, according to the weekly report of Emirates Securities, a Shuaa Capital affiliate.

The banking sector reported the best performance, advancing 3.1 per cent to gain Dh10.6 billion in market capitalisation, or 57.3 per cent of the gains.

First Gulf Bank surged 12.2 per cent to Dh26.65, adding Dh4 billion to its market value, followed by Union National Bank which shot up 7.1 per cent to close at Dh9.21 gaining Dh1.1 billion.

In Dubai, Emirates NBD advanced 1.7 per cent to Dh12.15.

Investment and financial services followed on account of the 8.6 per cent gain reported by Dubai Investments which ended the week with Dh1.1 billion inf gains to close at Dh4.04.

Emaar Properties advanced 2.6 per cent to Dh11.75 in Dubai, while Aldar rose 3.3 per cent to close at Dh12.65.