Dubai: The Dubai benchmark index on Wednesday breached the key trendline support of 3,200 amid a sell-off triggered by absence of fresh leads.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index closed 0.72 per cent lower at 3,181.96 on Wednesday after trading in the range of 3,200-3,300 since February 17.
“The index shall extend the fall to the 50 per cent and the 61.8 per cent Fibonacci retracement levels at 3,162/3,027 in the near term,” Shiv Prakash, senior analyst with First Abu Dhabi Bank Securities said.
Emaar Properties closed 1.44 per cent lower at Dh6.14.
“Emaar Properties failed to reverse to the upside and broke the current support of Dh6.15 confirming another leg to the downside which will be very quick and could take place on Thursday. The target is Dh5.99,” Menacorp said in a note.
Gulf Finance House closed 1 per cent lower to Dh 1.40. Dubai Islamic Bank closed 0.54 per cent lower at Dh5.56.
In other stocks, Union Properties closed flat at Dh 0.900. Emaar Malls closed 0.9 per cent weaker to Dh2.12.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange general index closed 0.09 per cent lower at 4,519.58.
Etisalat closed 0.15 per cent higher to Dh17.9, a day after the company announced plans to buy back 5 per cent of the paid-up capital totalling Dh7.7 billion.
“The downside of this buy-back strategy is that it signals that etisalat has no expansion plans and could prove peers more attractive if the post buy-back ratios are not encouraging enough. Finally it would mean more liquidity in the market as $2 brillion of cash will be available for new IPO at this crucial time,” Menacorp’s note added.
First Abu Dhabi Bank closed 0.05 per cent lower at Dh10.5.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index was 0.21 per cent higher at 7,452.91, bucking the weak regional trend, and Oman’s MSM 30 index closed 0.39 per cent lower to 4,928.10.
