UAE stocks dropped in lacklustre trade in the last session ahead of Ramadan.
Arabtec Holding and Deyaar Development led declines in Dubai while Dana Gas and RAK Properties were among the biggest losers in Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Market Index slipped 0.3 per cent to 4,516.84. The Dubai Financial Market General Index fell 0.7 per cent, to 3,327.13.
“For today’s trading we can easily say that with most quarter-one results out of the way of leading blue chips, there is no catalyst to take the market in either direction ahead of Ramadan and the summer months,” said Sachin Mohindra, a portfolio manager at Invest AD, an Abu Dhabi-based asset manager.
Trading on both exchanges remained slow.
The Dubai Financial Market had a turnover of Dh272.3 million compared to the 50-day average of Dh380.9m.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Market saw Dh142.1m worth of shares change hands versus the 50-day average of Dh170.9m.
Arabtec, the construction company, slipped 3.3 per cent to 72.5 fils while Deyaar Development dropped 3.5 per cent to 46.9 fils.
In Abu Dhabi, Dana Gas declined 4.7 per cent to 41 fils while RAK Properties fell 3.3 per cent 58 fils.
Mr Mohindra said that trading had been slow not just yesterday but for the whole of May with the absence of serious interest from investors, rather than traders, amid choppy oil prices and no clear indication of which direction the economy is heading in.
Still, he noted that first-quarter results of many companies suggested that business remained good despite the turbulence in oil prices.
mkassem@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter
