Dubai stock market ends 10-day rally

dubai — Dubai’s stock market slid on Thursday as most of its financial shares dropped, snapping a 10-day winning streak, while other major Gulf markets were little changed.

The Dubai index fell 0.6 per cent, led by a 1.7 per cent fall in Emirates NBD, ahead of its board meeting scheduled on April 16 to approve its first-quarter financial statement. On Wednesday, the lender said it would receive $725.6 million from the sale of a stake in Network International through a secondary listing of the shares in London. Emirates NBD sold 127.5 million shares in the payment processor, reducing its stake to 25.5 per cent.

Mashreq Bank dropped 6.8 per cent. Last week, the bank’s retail head said the bank would close 12 branches as it makes a shift towards online banking.

The Abu Dhabi index closed 0.1 per cent lower, as First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) fell 0.7 per cent. During after-hours trading, FAB said it had received regulatory approval to increase its foreign ownership limit to 40 per cent from 25 per cent. Adnoc Distribution dropped 3.2 per cent as the stock traded ex-dividend.

Saudi Arabia’s index edged up 0.1 per cent, with Jareer Marketing gaining 3.2 per cent. National Industrialisation Company (Tasnee) was up 2.8 per cent, to its highest since August 2018. Tasnee said that its unit Cristal had completed the sale of its titanium dioxide business to Tronox Holdings. Cristal will receive a cash consideration of $1.67 billion and a 24 per cent equity stake in Tronox.

The Egyptian index traded flat with Egypt Kuwait Holding declining 4.8 per cent.