By: Mahmoud Gamal

Dubai – Mubasher: The UAE stock markets are likely to absorb the negative impact of some leading companies’ annual results and resume their sideways-to-bullish performance throughout this week, analysts told Mubasher.

Institutional investors will pump new liquidity into the markets in the coming sessions, as some stocks reached attractive price levels ahead of shareholders’ general meetings to approve annual cash dividends, Jamal Ajaj, director of Al Sharhan Shares Centre in Abu Dhabi, said.

Disappointing annual results of some companies, like Arabtec Holding and Drake and Scull International (DSI), were the main reason behind the decline of the UAE exchanges last week, the analyst noted.

The approval of annual dividends will mainly lead to a change in shares’ prices, which will reflect negatively on investor behaviour, Ajaj added.

Any possible decline of the UAE markets early next month will give an opportunity to investors to build up new positions, amid positive outlook for the stocks’ performance this year, capital market analyst Bader Al Otaibi said.

Foreign portfolio investors are expected to increase their investments in the UAE markets as some stocks are trading at attractive price levels, Al Otaibi noted.

If the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) manages to surpass 3,720 points, it will target 4,000 points on the medium-term, Fady Al-Ghattis, CEO of Think Financial Services, told Mubasher.

Translated by: Julian Nabil