DUBAI: Gulf markets finished lower to flat yesterday as weak global sentiment on global growth concerns prompted caution for local investors and Dubai’s measure fell from the previous day’s 20-week high.
The emirate’s index fell 0.7 percent but has gained 2 percent for the week.
Emaar Properties was the main drag, falling 1.4 percent. Emirates NBD shed 0.7 percent and Dubai Financial Market lost 1.9 percent.
Logistics operator Aramex bucked the market trend and rose 1 percent in buying spurred after a cross-trade of 10 million shares. A foreign investor sold shares in the firm, freeing up allocation for other foreign buyers in the stock, which is usually at the top limit for foreign ownership, traders said.
Shares in Nasdaq Dubai-listed DP World also gained, up 0.9 percent. The ports operator sold non-core operations in Belgium, the latest in a series of disposals of non-core assets in developed countries, and has quit a venture in Yemen, it said.
“The market mood soured because of international lead to result in end-of-week profit-taking, but the rally isn’t over yet for UAE,” said Firass Yaish economic consultant at Trust Capital. “There are still a lot of buying opportunities.”
European shares and the euro fell yesterday after weak Chinese and euro zone data underlined worries about global economic growth, and a promise of extra oil from Saudi Arabia also helped to push crude prices to a six-week low.
Investors are taking direction from global markets until third-quarter earnings, which in the UAE are expected to show strong growth and sustain the prevailing upbeat sentiment. Earnings season kicks off in early October but UAE companies are likely to report financials later next month.
“We’re quite optimistic for the rest of 2012,” said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president and chief trader at Gulfmena Investments.
“UAE markets have underperformed international markets for two years and the recent move (higher) doesn’t mean we’ve even come close to highs of pre-crisis levels, while international markets have recovered completely.”
Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi’s measure and Qatar’s index finished near-flat but rose 0.3 and 0.4 percent respectively for the week.
These markets made early-week gains, spurred by US Federal Reserve saying it will buy $ 40 billion of mortgage-backed debt per month until the job market improves substantially.
Kuwait and Oman’s bourses also ended near-flat.
Dubai stocks drop from 20-week high
