Markets fail to hold early gains

UAE markets opened the week strongly due to positive global indicators but failed to sustain the momentum through to the end of the day. The Dubai Financial Market General Index rose 2 per cent in pre-market trading but surrendered some of those gains to close 0.9 per cent higher. The index was led by Emaar Properties, which rose 1.9 per cent to Dh3.17. The developer traded the highest volumes on the exchange, with 13 million shares changing hands. Arabtec Holding rose 2 per cent to Dh1.97. The company's chief financial officer was quoted late last week as saying the company expected cash flow to improve now that the Government was supporting Nakheel to pay its bills.

"US and European markets ended the week strong, spilling over on to Saudi Arabia yesterday, which was a good indication for us," said Saad Chalabi, the institutional trader at Al Ramz Securities based in Abu Dhabi. "However, there was no continuation of the momentum for the rest of the trading session." On a local level, there remain few catalysts to help sustain rallies, Mr Chalabi said. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) General Index moved up 0.5 per cent to 2,533.97.

Etisalat, which accounts for 30 per cent of the ADX's capitalisation, said at the weekend it was investing US$1.4 billion in its Egyptian unit over three years. The telecommunications operator remained unchanged at Dh10.40. Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait's measure climbed 2.3 per cent to 6,642.10; Qatar's index rose 0.9 per cent to 6,920.48; Bahrain dropped 0.1 per cent to 1,398.74; and Oman's main measure gained 0.3 per cent to 6,140.80.

The Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index lost 0.2 per cent to 6,262.56. [e-mail]