Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s equity markets continued to see strong sell-off activity on the back of growing negative sentiment, with the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index falling 2.37 per cent to reach 3,300.19 on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) general index slid 0.63 per cent to reach 4,199.03, as did Qatar’s benchmark equity index, which dropped an 11th day, set for its worst run since 2003.

Qatar’s index was the worst-performing stock index in the period after Egypt’s among over 90 tracked indexes, according to Bloomberg. The plunge in the GCC region stems from falling oil prices, which sank more than 40 per cent in the past year, taking a huge toll on investor sentiment and hence, liquidity.

In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul index was down 0.78 per cent to reach 6,960.57 (at 3.50pm UAE time), dropping from the 7,015.29 where it ended on Monday.

Sebastien Henin, head of asset management at The National Investor in Abu Dhabi, said that despite the drops, the market is yet to bottom out.

“The market is driven by technical indicators these days. I think the DFM index has broken a key support at 3,400, which is a support that it tested in August and March. This has triggered profit-taking because people don’t want to be invested in the market at this time,” he said.

Henin added that amid the global economic slowdown, investors are not focused on market fundamentals.

“The market might lose again a little bit — we probably have not yet reached a bottom. We should expect the market to reach lower levels in the coming weeks. I think the next technical support [for DFM index] on the short term would be 3,000,” he said.

On Tuesday, Aldar Properties, the Abu Dhabi-based developer and ADX-listed powerhouse, reported a nine per cent increase in its net profits that reached Dh638 million — well above market consensus. However, ADX did not see much of a reaction, with the index continuing to drop.

“When you have such a big market movement, there’s no discrimination; all stocks including the blue chips go down. Despite the fact that the fundamental of the UAE’s economy is not bad at all, we expect the market, for technical reasons, to go further down in the coming sessions,” Henin said.

In Dubai, powerhouses were in the red, with Amlak leading the losses as its share prices fell 8.54 per cent. Damac Properties, which reported a 43 per cent rise in net profits to Dh3.67 billion in the first nine months of 2015, dipped 6.62 per cent.

Emaar also slid 3.69 per cent, Air Arabia dove 4.8 per cent, Arabtec fell 2.82 per cent, and Dubai Islamic Bank went down 1.13 per cent.

In the capital, Abu Dhabi Ship Building topped the gainers’ list with a 2.86 per cent increase, followed by Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar) with 0.82 per cent, and Etisalat with 0.33 per cent.

Of the 34 stocks traded on DFM, 30 went down, three went up, and one remained flat. Of the 26 stocks traded on ADX, 16 declined, three advanced, and seven remained unchanged.

— With inputs from Bloomberg