Dubai: The UAE’s benchmark indices were little changed on Tuesday amid a summer lull that saw trade values dwindle as investors also await new catalysts.
The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index inched up 0.2 per cent to end at 2,678.92, a day after it closed at the 50-day moving average. Blue chip Emaar was the most actively traded stock by value, with its share price rising 0.67 per cent while GFH and Damac both saw their share prices increase by 1.14 per cent and 0.43 per cent respectively.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) general index, meanwhile, was nearly flat (up 0.01 per cent) to close at 4,978.84, with less than Dh100 million in total trade value. This was even after global stocks rallied on Monday on the hopes of improved trade talks between the world’s two largest economies: the United States and China.
Analysts said they expect trade to remain slow over the next two months, though they pointed that valuations on many UAE stocks are attractive. And while equity investors around the world have been expecting some policy easing by the US Federal Reserve, the news could come to hurt banking stocks in the UAE where the currency is pegged to the dollar and where interest incomes have been on the rise over the past two years.