By: Thabet Shehata
Dubai – Mubasher: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) suffered an overall negative weekly performance during the fourth week of May as blue-chip stocks Emaar Properties, Arabtec and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) were in the red.
The DFMGI dropped 2.87% or 118 points to 4,000.5 points, down from 4,118.6 points last week.
UAE markets have recently been suffering a lack of positive catalysts after the period for disclosing financials ended, which is clear in the decline in liquidity and market instability, analysts said.
The DFM’s weekly losses were accompanied by a significant drop in turnover by 15.3% compared to the previous week, reaching AED 2.7 billion against AED 3.2 billion, bringing average turnover per session to AED 544.5 million.
Meanwhile, traded volume dropped 28% to 1.47 billion shares against 2.04 billion last week, with an average volume per session of 293.64 million shares.
Tarek Qaqish, asset manager at Al-Mal Capital, said that local markets are seeing investors rebuild their investment positions and portfolios after the end of the period for announcing first quarter financials. He added that markets “lack positive catalysts” at present.
The next OPEC meeting, scheduled for 5 June, is likely to affect markets in the region including the twin UAE exchanges, in addition to the approach of the summer holidays and the month of Ramadan, Qaqish noted.
At the sectors’ level, the investment sector was the biggest loser, plunging 6.46% as Dubai Investments dropped 5.6%, while remaining stocks performed negatively.
The real estate sector retreated 2.87% as Emaar and Arabtec slid 4.88% and 4.56%, respectively. On the other hand, Emaar Malls surged 7%.
The banking sector fell 2.7% as DIB and Emirates NBD lost 2.86% and 1%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Talal Al-Khoury, a managing partner at Al-Awael Holding, said that UAE markets have witnessed an early investor exit with the approach of Ramadan and the summer holidays.
He added that UAE markets have suffered negative performance in recent years in June, which creates a kind of fear among traders that it may happen again this year.
The telecom sector recorded the lowest decline by 0.8% as du retreated to AED 5.040. On the other hand, the transport and consumer staples sectors were the only risers, adding 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, backed by Air Arabia and Marka.
Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi
