Trading was light on local markets yesterday, although the Abu Dhabi property developer Eshraq concluded its subscription period with sufficient interest to move forward with an initial public offering (IPO).
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Last Updated: May 12, 2011
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"Despite launching a real estate offering at a difficult time for the market, we managed to oversubscribe the IPO," said Majd Maaitah, the director of securities services at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the lead bank taking orders for the IPO.
Eshraq wants to raise Dh825 million in the UAE's first IPO outside the insurance sector in two years.
Final details, including when the company will list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), will be released at a later date, Mr Maaitah said. The energy giant Taqa fell to its lowest point in almost two months as foreign exchange losses and a tax increase dragged on first-quarter earnings. It closed 1.4 per cent lower at Dh1.38. The ADX General Index edged 0.2 per cent higher to 2,675.79 points. The Dubai Financial Market General Index ended flat at 1,608.49 points.
Deyaar Development, the property company part-owned by Dubai Islamic Bank, reported its first return to profit in more than a year after the market closed. It posted net income of Dh26m in the first quarter, after a loss of Dh100m in the same period last year. Shares closed up 3.4 per cent at 30.4 fils yesterday.
Volumes on UAE bourses have been light, with few long-term investors.
"When we see low volumes of around 200 million on [UAE] markets, it's the speculators that are the ones dictating the movement," said Mohammed Ali Yasin, the chief investment officer at CAPM Investment.
