Dubai: Buying in Emaar Properties and Emaar Malls offsetted weakness in Dubai Islamic Bank, keeping the downside in the index limited.
The Dubai Financial Market Index fell as much 3,608.88, before closing 0.27 per cent lower at 3,620.68 as auction trades were seen in Emaar Properties and Emaar Malls.
Emaar Properties closed 1.74 per cent higher at Dh7.58, after witnessing a trade of 1.364 million shares in auction trade. Emaar Malls closed 1.15 per cent higher at Dh2.65. Gulf Finance House closed 0.34 per cent higher at Dh2.91.
Shares of Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and Gulf Finance House are expected to go ex-div from Thursday, so analysts said this may trigger a gap down opening in these stocks. DIB fell 1.44 per cent to end at Dh6.16.
Dubai Financial Market shares closed more than 3 per cent lower at Dh1.41. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange index closed 0.38 per cent higher at 4,569.53. First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi rose on buying due to dividend play.
First Gulf Bank closed 1.83 per cent higher at Dh13.90. National Bank of Abu Dhabi closed 1.43 per cent higher at Dh10.65.
Tight volumes
Traded value remained depressed. About Dh518 million shares were traded on the exchange compared to more than Dh1.5 billion a few weeks ago.
“There has been lower liquidity recently before the dividend season. People are waiting to pickup the annual demand before they start trading aggressively,” said Saleem Khokhar, head of equities at National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s asset management group
“The catalysts have become less with results season out of the way.”
Elsewhere in the region, the Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index closed 0.08 per cent lower at 6,966.53, while the parallel index closed 0.78 per cent higher at 6,036.75. The Qatar exchange index closed 0.47 per cent higher at 10,752.10. The Muscat MSM 30 index closed 0.19 per cent higher at 5,791.120.
