Trading in Middle East markets slumped, with little reason for traders to open new positions as the weekend neared and regional benchmarks almost unchanged, Reuters said.
Aldar dropped 3.2 percent to 1.82 dirhams after it announced a fourth-quarter loss. Aldar has made losses for five straight quarters and its shares have fallen 55 percent over the past 12 months.
Credit Suisse has an underperform rating on Aldar and a fair value price of 1.59 dirhams.
"We don't see an imminent turnaround in Aldar unless the property market recovers and that seems unlikely," Badr said. "The capital structure of Aldar was significantly over-leveraged and it was then hit by the property downturn."
Dubai house prices have fallen about 60 percent from a 2008 peak and Abu Dhabi prices have also tumbled, with both forecast to make further double-digit declines to 2012 as over-supply and weak demand weigh.
UAE bourses are heavily skewed to property, so a wider economic turnaround — the country's economy is forecast to grow 3.6 percent in 2011 according to economists polled by Reuters — may not be reflected on equity benchmarks.
"UAE markets will continue to face challenges for years to come, not just one or two quarters," said Shahid Hameed, Global Investment House head of asset management for the Gulf region.
"The real estate cycle is very long and I don't see a turnaround in the UAE property market any time soon, so local stock markets will probably remain sideways, although there will be spikes up or down depending on the news flow."
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (Taqa) climbed 2.9 percent after it swung to a net profit in the fourth quarter, helped mainly by higher commodity prices, to beat analysts' forecasts.
The Dubai index slipped 0.2 percent to 1,603 points, but the Abu Dhabi benchmark climbed 0.2 percent to 2,709 points.
Qatar's index fell for a second day in three as volumes slumped to a two-week low. Qatar National Bank dropped 1.8 percent and Islamic lender Masraf Al-Rayan fell 2 percent. The latter has gained 9.5 percent this week. The index fell 0.3 percent to 8,917 points.
Islamic bank stocks are up after the central bank instructed conventional lenders to dispose of their Islamic banking assets by the end of 2011.
"It will have a positive impact on Islamic banks, especially Masraf Al-Rayan, which as a new bank is more aggressive and its growth capacity should accelerate because of this ruling," Reuters quoted Hameed as saying.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) rose 0.1 percent to 6,612 points.The sector activity for the day was mostly positive with 10 out of 15 closing with gains ranging from 0.02 percent by the Banks & Financial Services sector to 0.72 percent by the Agriculture & Food Industries sector. On the other hand the losing sectors ranged from 0.22 percent by the Hotel & Tourism sector to 1.06 percent by the Multi-Investment. The overall market breadth for the day was positive with 64 advancers against 58 decliners giving it an AD ratio of 1.10, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) — licensed by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) — said in its daily market commentary.
The stock market turnover for the day reached SR2.88 billion.
The Kuwaiti index rose 0.09 percent to 6,759 points.
The Omani index climbed 0.2 percent to 6,936 points.
The Bahraini measure eased 0.02 percent to 1,467 points.
