Property and banks lift UAE indexes
Companies trading on the UAE’s two main bourses gained Dh5.5 billion in market cap at the end of yesterday’s session.
Starting the week in the green, Dubai Financial Market General Index moved up 0.97 per cent to 3,188 points, with the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange following suit to 4,533 points, 0.14 up against the Thursday session.
According to brokers and analysts surveyed by WAM, most of the transactions have been conducted on the property and banking sectors in addition to some Takaful insurance companies. More liquidity is yet still needed to ensure more momentum on the market, according to industry analysts.
Top gainers in Abu Dhabi included Agthia, up 5.9 per cent and UCC, up 3.2 per cent, while fallers included Julphar down 3.7 per cent and Sudatel, down 3.6 per cent.
In Dubai, Emirates NBD’s announcement that it planned to open up for more foreign shareholders as Dubai’s biggest bank prepares a bid for Turkey’s DenizBank pushed shares up 13.6 per cent on the DFM, the most in more than three years, to close at Dh10 in Dubai. Emaar closed up 1 per cent, while GFH fell 2.7 per cent.
About 18.5 million shares were traded, about 19 times the 3-month daily average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In Saudi Arabia the Tadwul closed up 1.7 per cent at 7,696 with top gainers including National Petroleum up 9.9 per cent Petro Rabigh at 2.5 per cent up.
Elsewhere, Wall Street is demonstrating a heightened sensitivity to any sign of rising prices, worried it might result in more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Fed. So US
Wall Street is demonstrating a heightened sensitivity to any sign of rising prices, worried it might result in more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Fed. So US consumer price data for February will be closely watched on Tuesday.
It’s worth remembering that recent stock market tumbles kicked off when January’s jobs data stoked inflation fears by reporting the biggest wage gain in more than eight and a half years.
February’s employment report released on Friday showed the strongest job growth in more than 1-1/2 years, but a slowdown in wage gains.