Dubai – Mubasher: Emaar Properties, listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), fell 0.5% amidst a wave of declines that hit the DFM mid-session on Tuesday.

The stock fell to AED 7.40 (as at 12 pm, UAE time), after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BBB-' long-term corporate credit rating for Emaar. The ratings agency said it gave the Dubai-based developer a stable outlook.

Turnover on the stock reached AED 17.5 million after 2.4 million shares were traded through 145 transactions. The real estate sector fell 1.07%, while the market’s general index (DFMGI) dropped 0.95%.

S&P also highlighted that Emaar’s liquidity has improved due to “the strong cash flow generation of the company's high-margin, largely presold, Dubai-based development business and lower near-term debt maturities with liquidity sources comfortably exceeding uses by 1.5x as of Sept. 30, 2014.”

Moreover, Moody’s Investor Service recently changed its outlook for Emaar Properties from stable to positive and maintained it Ba1 rating.

Emaar had reported a net profit of AED 3.3 billion for 2014 against AED 2.56 billion in 2013, registering a significant increase of 28%. Financials for Q4-14 revealed a net profit of AED 861 million against AED 756 million in the same period in 2013, a profit growth of 14%.