Arabtec’s decline resumed yesterday as the company’s shares dropped a further 5.4 per cent to close at Dh 3.10, wiping out signs from Wednesday that a recovery in the builder’s stock might be under way.
The Dubai Financial Market, on which Arabtec trades, was mostly flat over the course of the day, closing down 0.7 per cent at 4,222.75.
Emirates NBD had a strong day on the exchange, gaining 7.3 per cent – followed by Commercial Bank of Dubai, which gained 4.4 per cent, and Dubai Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance, which gained 1.9 per cent.
Shuaa Capital took Dubai’s biggest loss yesterday, losing 7.6 per cent, while Union Properties and the DFM stock also lost about 4 per cent.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index rose 0.5 per cent to close at 4,664.77, up from 4,639.41, led by gains from United Arab Bank, which rose 9.8 per cent, and the fish farmer Asmak, which gained 9.5 per cent.
Small-cap stocks have fared slightly worse over the past week than some of the region’s larger names, analysts said.
“Illiquid names were affected more. There were no safe corners to hide in,” said Shabbir Mailk, an associate vice principal at EFG-Hermes.
“Generally the market hasn’t been doing well,” he said. “But banking has been doing relatively well because their valuations were not as demanding. And also the outlook for the banking sector still looks good.”
Ali El Adou, a portfolio manager at The National Investor, agreed that the country’s big-name stocks had fared better than smaller companies’ shares.
“The large blue-chip names are outperforming small to mid-cap stocks even on the downside. These small to mid-cap names have always been highly volatile and have low-quality earnings,” Mr El Adou said.
“But the broad picture is that there is a lot of value in many of the names in the market, especially some of the blue chips, so it might be a good time to start accumulating those names.”
abouyamourn@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @Ind_Insights
