Profit-taking dragged stocks lower on the Dubai Financial Market in the absence of catalysts, stockbrokers said yesterday.
“People are waiting for earnings results from companies to gain momentum and looking at the amount of distributions, whether they are raising dividends or keeping it the same,” said Nabil Farhat, a partner at Al Fajer Securities in Abu Dhabi. “Otherwise, it’s quite slow, some profit-taking in the absence of news.”
Property and construction stocks led the declines in Dubai. Deyaar Development declined 1.6 per cent to 87 fils a share. Union Properties dropped 4.5 per cent to Dh1.27. Arabtec Holding lost 3.1 per cent to Dh3.10. Drake & Scull International was down 2.1 per cent to 90 fils a share.
Air Arabia, which said yesterday that it plans to start flights to Urumqi in China next month, advanced 2.4 per cent to Dh1.70.
EmiratesNBD, which reported an 82 per cent increase in fourth quarter profit to Dh1.22 billion, gained 1.6 per cent to Dh9.06.
Gulf Finance House, which has a secondary listing in Dubai, declined 3.4 per cent to 33 fils after the investment bank said it had nothing to report after increased trading volumes on the shares.
The DFM General Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 3,893.50 points.
Trading activity in Abu Dhabi was governed by Aldar Properties, which said it was repaying the remaining Dh1bn of a D4bn loan before the end of the month. Despite the high volumes, Aldar's stock ended flat at Dh2.69. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index closed up 0.2 per cent at 4,567.25.
halsayegh@thenational.ae
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