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. Last Updated: May 10, 2011 <strong>Thomas Cook hit for £22m amid Middle East cancellations</strong> Thomas Cook reports that it has lost GBP22 million because of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/business/travel-tourism/cancelled-holidays-in-middle-east-batter-cook">Read article</a> <strong>Fujairah plant set to power up Northern Emirates</strong> Fujairah power and water plant enhances the emirate's importance as a strategic UAE energy hub. <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/fujairah-plant-set-to-power-up-northern-emirates">Read article</a> <strong>HSBC posts first-quarter profit surge</strong> HSBC sees big gains in the Middle East in spite of the recent unrest, but cost-cutting measures worldwide are still looming for the bank after its layoffs in the region earlier this year. <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/business/banking/profit-at-hsbc-almost-doubles">Read article</a> <strong>Market braced forTamweel return</strong> Tamweel's shares are expected to fall sharply on its first day of trading for two years but analysts are more optimistic on its bond. <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/business/markets/market-braced-for-tamweel-return">Read article</a> <strong>Prices for luxury London property climbing on foreign demand </strong> Industry Insights // Prices in London's elite neighbourhoods are soaring, boosted by strong overseas demand, but they are barely moving elsewhere in the UK. <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/property/prices-for-luxury-london-property-climbing-on-foreign-demand">Read article</a> 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.
