JEDDAH/DUBAI: Property and banking stocks led Dubai to a fourth consecutive lower close on Tuesday, as Dubai Financial Market made a takeover bid for its local rival.
On a day of mixed markets in the region, Emirates NBD and Emaar Properties, two of Dubai’s main listings, fell 4.7 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, helping drag the index 1.4 percent lower.
DFM was the only stock to gain, ending 1.1 percent higher, after announcing a $121 million takeover bid for Nasdaq Dubai, which is expected to broaden the bourse’s asset class offering and boost revenues. Qatar’s market closed 0.4 percent lower, the banking sector being the worst performer.
Abu Dhabi’s index outperformed other Gulf Arab markets, closing 0.6 percent higher. Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman also posted gains.
Bank of Kuwait and Middle East gained 2 percent. Logistics firm Agility fell 6.8 percent, extending Monday’s losses, after it said a US contractor dropped its US unit as a subcontractor. Heavyweight Zain closed nearly 2 percent lower. Al Mal Capital maintained its under perform rating and lowered its price target to 0.961 dinar.
In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) fell 0.37 percent to close at 6,229.17 points.
The first negative day of trading this week. The market saw moderate losses across 13 of the 15 market sectors. The only two sectors that managed to close positively today were the Media & Publishing and the Hotel & Tourism sectors, which saw gains of 0.16 percent and 0.07 percent respectively. Negative sector movement ranged from 0.20 percent in the Telecom & IT sector, to a loss of 1.29 percent in the multi-investment sector. Overall market breadth was negative, with 19 advancers and 94 decliners, giving an AD ratio of 0.20. Today’s biggest decliner was Maaden, which was down 2.7 percent, whereas the top gainer was Thim’ar, which saw an increase in stock price of 5.99 percent, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said on Tuesday in its daily market commentary.
— With input from agencies
