DFM's results disappoint

DFM Company was one of the biggest losers on Dubai's market yesterday as the near 100 per cent decline in first quarter profits weighed on investor sentiment

The DFM fell to its lowest in more than a month.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) Company yesterday fell to its lowest in more than a month after it reported a near 100 per cent drop in first-quarter profit.

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Shares in the bourse operator, the only Gulf stock exchange that sells shares to the public, retreated 3 per cent to Dh1.27 on the first day of trading after it announced its results late on Sunday.

But Abdul Jalil Yousef Darwish, DFM's chairman, said the low trading activities were "purely passing circumstances" and volumes would pick up in the future.

Union Properties was one of the few gainers in Dubai after the developer, in which the lender Emirates NBD holds a 48 per cent stake, announced a 64 per cent jump in first-quarter net profit. It closed 2.3 per cent higher at 39 fils yesterday. The DFM General Index ended 0.2 per cent down at 1,588.11 and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index fell 0.4 per cent to 2,675.61.

Amjad Bakir, the trading manager at Menacorp Alternative Investments, said volumes needed to pick up before there were significant moves in the market.

"Most investors have seen profit announcements for the first quarter as disappointing and the general feeling has been bearish," Mr Bakir said. "The only steam for the market at the moment is volume."

In significant movements elsewhere in the region: Qatar's market rose 1 per cent to 8,544.18; Kuwaiti shares finished slightly up at 6,508.60; and Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All-Share index was up 0.7 per cent at 6,673.26.