Dubai trade lacklustre as traders wary

INVESTORS AWAIT LISTING OF AJMAN BANK’S RIGHTS ISSUE TODAY

The Dubai index witnessed further lacklustre trade, with traders sitting on the sidelines hoping for volumes to recover.

The Dubai Financial Market General index closed 0.12 per cent higher at 2,777.82. Traded value stood at Dh100 million against the daily average of Dh200-Dh300 million.

This sideways movement was despite the release of third quarter results.

“Results season is here, however none have been reported yet and investors’ sentiment is not as promising as capital markets hope with the real estate sector being monitored closely with earnings expected to turn out on the disappointing end,” Essam Kassabieh, senior analyst with Menacorp, said.

Gulf Finance close lower

Gulf Finance House closed 1.46 per cent lower at Dh1.35, while Emaar Properties closed 0.83 per cent higher at Dh4.88. DP World closed flat at $18.49. Dubai Islamic Bank closed 0.19 per rcent higher at Dh5.34. Emirates NBD closed flat at Dh9.25 despite plans of the bank to list its 51 per cent unit Network International (NI).

Traders await listing of rights issue of Ajman Bank, which will list at Dh0.01. Traders are expected to speculate due to absence of circuit limits. Ajman Bank will be tradable on the exchange between October 10 and 24.

Ajman Bank will increase its capital to Dh2.1 billion by issuing 419 million shares at Dh1 each.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange general index closed 0.34 per cent higher at 5,020.52.

The Dubai Financial Market general index has been among the worst performing regionally, losing 18 per cent since January.

The Abu Dhabi index has gained more than 10 per cent during the same period.