Dubai index sees temporary bounce

The Dubai Financial Market General index closed 1.42 per cent higher at 2,535.46, after losing 300 points or 10.38 per cent in the past 22 sessions.

“Any recovery, if seen, shall be short-lived, and traders will use to sell from higher levels,” Shiv Prakash, senior analyst with First Abu Dhabi Bank Securities said in a note.

Arabtec closed 1.6 per cent higher at Dh1.9. Aratec may see a bounce to Dh2.08 in the near term, Prakash said.

Traders had been liquidating positions in other stocks due to heavy losses in a few real estate shares owing to margin pressures.

“Several other market players, mainly in real estate, have also continued their descent such as Union Properties which initially kick-started this market’s drop as investors fell into the margin call trap forcing sales all across the market to fund losing positions,” Essam Kassabieh, Senior Financial Analyst at Menacorp said.

Salama Insurance closed 7 per cent higher at Dh0.52. Traders have been buying the stock at the recent fall, giving confidence to others.

“Traders may look to hold for the next higher target of Dh0.58 in the near term,” Prakash said. FABS had a buy on the stock at Dh0.47 on Monday. Abu Dhabi Financial Group and Goldilocks recently increased its stake to 29.92 per cent.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange general index closed 0.56 per cent higher at 4,815.91.

First Abu Dhabi Bank closed 0.14 per cent higher at Dh13.82. Etisalat closed 1.07 per cent higher at Dh17.00.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia Tadawul index closed 0.25 per cent higher at 7,838.94. Saudi Basic Industries Corp. closed 1.17 per cent lower at 118.40 Saudi riyals, while Al Rajhi Bank closed 0.46 per cent higher at 86.80 riyals. The Qatar exchange index closed 0.70 per cent lower at 10,482.14. The Muscat MSM 30 index closed 0.13 per cent lower at 4,497.64. The Kuwait all share index closed at 5,171.31, up 0.15 per cent,