Oil rally fails to lift DFM shares

A slight rally in global oil prices Wednesday afternoon was not enough to lift shares listed on the Dubai bourse.

After falling in early trading, crude oil prices rallied slightly during the day, notching up their first gain in five days by the time the Dubai Financial Market closed, to stand at US$42.13 per barrel – a 0.79 per cent increase on Tuesday’s price of US$41.80 – itself a four-month low.

Crude prices have fallen about 20 per cent in less than two months after a rally took prices back up to $52.51 in early June.

The Dubai Financial Market slumped 1.08 per cent to 3,431.90, marking a second day of losses with Dubai’s largest listed property company, Emaar Properties, the biggest faller. Emaar shares sank 2.63 per cent to Dh6.66 – their lowest price since July 12.

The mortgage company Amlak, which is 45 per cent owned by Emaar, was also affected as its shares fell 2.16 per cent to close at Dh1.36. And the district cooling company Tabreed was the index’s third-biggest faller of the day, sliding 2.01 per cent to close at Dh1.46.

The low oil price also weighed heavily on the MSCI Emerging Markets index, which includes nine UAE stocks. The index retreated from its highest level in a year, falling 0.65 per cent after hitting 882.55 on Monday.

The Abu Dhabi bourse slid slightly in early trading on Wednesday, dragged down by losses in the banking sector before rallying strongly to close up 2.27 per cent at 4,509.62, aided by a 10.66 per cent increase in the rarely traded National Marine Dredging Company.

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