UAE markets declined yesterday as investors sold shares amid concerns of weakness persisting in the upcoming days.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index fell 1.1 per cent to close at 4,084.35 points. Gainers for the index came from retailers such as Marka and Emaar Malls, while Dubai Parks & Resorts dropped 5.7 per cent.
Sanyalaksna Manibhandu, the chief equities analyst at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, said that the changes reflected profit- taking and testing the support level.
He said that investors realised how “cheap” the DFM was, resulting in large buys in mid-March.
However, after major first-quarter earnings were released, those investors decided to sell shares while still receiving a profit. “They’re worried that there will be some weakness in the immediate days ahead,”Mr Manibhandu said.
The capital’s Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index dropped 1.4 per cent to 4,553.61, with the National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels the largest gainer, coinciding with the opening of the Arabian Travel Market. Eshraq Properties fell 0.90 per cent.
“Whether or not the markets go higher on fundamentals really depends now on second-quarter numbers that will be released in July,” said Mr Manibhandu.
lgraves@thenational.ae
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