DUBAI: Dubai's bourse fell sharply on Wednesday as investors accumulated cash for the upcoming initial public offer of Emaar Properties' malls unit, while most other markets in the region slipped.

The Dubai index fell 3.4 percent to 4,912 points after dropping as much as 4.4 percent at one stage. Emaar itself lost 2.7 percent.

In one of the largest equity sales in the Middle East since 2008, the company plans to float its unit Emaar Malls Group this month and subscriptions for the shares will open on Sept. 14.

"People are trying to take profits in order to take part in the IPO," said Marwan Shurrab, fund manager and head of trading at Vision Investments in Dubai. "Any selling pressure you see on the market is going to be related to that."

Emaar, which plans to sell a 15 percent stake in its subsidiary, has indicated it wants to raise at least 5.3 billion dirhams ($1.4 billion) from the offer. It has also said it aims to sell about 30 percent of the offer to retail investors.

Abu Dhabi's index dipped along with Dubai and fell 1.0 percent to 5,116 points. Developer Aldar Properties was hit hardest among blue chips, dropping 4.4 percent.

Qatar's benchmark slipped 0.1 percent to 14,027 points after hitting an all-time intra-day high of 14,103 points. Gulf International Services (GIS) pulled back 1.0 percent after jumping 4.7 percent in the previous session when it signed a $1.4 billion contract with Qatar Petroleum.

Egypt's bourse edged down 0.1 percent to 9,587 points as large property developer SODIC dropped 5.1 percent, after saying it had received regulatory approval for a 1 billion Egyptian pound ($140 million) rights issue.

Cairo-based Naeem Brokerage downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy" afterward, saying that while the capital boost was a positive factor, it had already been priced in. Shares in SODIC have more than doubled in price this year.