Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Abu Dhabi: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) general index climbed 2.17 per cent on Tuesday on the back of strong gains by Arabtec, which led the index to reach 5,327.19.

Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) index rose 0.56 per cent to reach 5,035.19.

With over Dh1.5 billion worth of trade value, Arabtec represented around 51 per cent of trade on DFM. The share price grew 11.65 per cent to end at Dh7.38, marking the greatest gain on DFM.

The real estate sector ended the day with the lion’s share of 66 per cent of the value of trade, while the banking sector amounted to 15 per cent of trade. Most of the activity in banking was accounted for by Gulf Finance House, whose share prices went up 8.51 per cent, marking the second largest gain on DFM.

Analyst Osama Al Ashry said the DFM index has targets to reach 5,500, and is expected to continue rising, with occasional corrections.

Discussing trade of Arabtec stocks, he said, “The DFM index is now tied to Arabtec, with most of the liquidity in the market going to Arabtec alone. This makes the stock a high-risk one, and it makes trade in the market altogether risky because one or two blue chips control everything.”

Al Ashry, a member of UK organisation, Society of Technical Analysts, also commented on trade in ADX, describing it as healthy and less aggressive compared to DFM, which results in slight changes on the index.

Aldar Properties remained the biggest player on ADX, with a total trade value of over Dh444 million, and a share price of Dh4.12. Al Ashry expected share prices for the real estate developer to rise above Dh5, but said it has to break the resistance of Dh4.5 first.

In Dubai, Air Arabia inclined 2.76 per cent, Emaar rose three per cent to hit a share price of Dh10.30, and Dubai Islamic Bank gained 2.02 per cent. However, Union Properties dropped 1.94 per cent.

In Abu Dhabi, Eshraq Properties marked the greatest change in volume with a 4.21 per cent drop, while RAK Properties also went down 2.48 per cent. However, Dana Gas climbed 2.27 per cent in volume, and Aldar Properties rose 2.23 per cent.

Of the 36 stocks traded on ADX, 15 declined, 13 advanced, and eight remained flat. Of the 29 stocks traded on DFM, 18 went up, 10 went down, and one remained unchanged.

By Sarah Diaa Staff Reporter

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