Traders bid for insurance stocks in steady Dubai market

Dubai:

Traders bought insurance stocks hoping better than expected second quarter results in a steady Dubai market.

Aman, Salama, Dar Al Takaful witnessed buying, contributing to more than 28 per cent of the total volumes.

Aman closed 13.66 per cent higher at Dh1.040. Salama closed 3.54 per cent higher at Dh0.468. Dar Al Takaful closed 1.77 per cent higher at Dh1.15.

The Dubai Financial Market general index closed 0.13 per cent lower at 3,594.62.

“ ... a correction to the 3,500 is very likely before the continuation of the uptrend, volumes expected to be really low if market corrects which is very positive,” said Hisham Khairy, Head of Institutional Trading at Menacorp.

Traded volumes rose a tad to 349 million shares.

In other stocks, DP World closed 0.48 per cent higher at $23.10, and was the actively traded stock on the bourse. Aramex closed 1.89 per cent higher at Dh5.4. Emaar Properties closed less than a half a per cent weaker at Dh8.15. Union Properties closed 0.85 per cent lower at Dh0.938. Dubai Financial Market shares closed 2.54 per cent lower at Dh1.15.

The Abu Dhabi Financial Market General Index closed 0.04 per cent higher at 4,541.94. “The overall trend still remains bullish, and the index is headed towards the 4,720 barrier as the trailing stops remain intact at 4,500. Traders may look to hold and add selectively from the lower support levels,” Shiv Prakash, senior analyst at National Bank of Abu Dhabi Securities said in a note.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank closed 0.70 per cent higher at Dh7.20. National Bank of Abu Dhabi closed 0.47 per cent higher at Dh10.65. Union National Bank closed 2.77 per cent lower at Dh4.56. Gulf Pharma closed 4.17 per cent lower at Dh2.3. Agthia closed 1.33 per cent lower at Dh5.20. United Arab Bank closed 3.45 per cent lower at Dh1.4.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank closed 1.1 per cent lower at Dh3.6.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index was 0.33 per cent lower at 7,228.22. The Qatar exchange index closed 0.16 per cent higher at 9,594.51. The index has shed more than 8 per cent since the start of the year.

The Muscat MSM 30 index closed 0.05 per cent higher at 4,997.77.

The Bahrain bourse index closed at 1,334.66, up 0.54 per cent.

Traders will eye the Federal Reserve meeting later on Wednesday for direction. “All eyes of FED meeting tomorrow which could be a turning point to current dollar weakness,” Khairy said.

Analysts expect a slower pace or rate hikes even as dollar has taken a beating, hitting its lowest level in a year.