Leading active stocks in Dubai Financial Market (DFM) bounced up at the end of yesterday’s session, pushing the index to close in the positive area after sharp fluctuations.
The DFM index added 9.40 points, or 0.60 per cent, and closed at 1565.48 points after going down to 1540 points during intraday trading. The index continued to track movements in bellwether Emaar Properties, which fluctuated between Dh2.84 and Dh2.97 before ending the session at Dh2.95, registering a gain of 1.72 per cent.
Arabtec moved in a relatively wide range – between Dh2.07 and Dh2.17 – before ending the session up by 3.35 per cent at Dh2.16. The DFM stock also added 2.76 per cent to close at Dh1.49. Union Properties remained the top active stock for the second session amid continued selling pressures due to worries about the company’s financial position. The stock was also the top loser in the market and fell 5.56 per cent to close at Dh0.51. It hit an all-time low of Dh0.49 during intraday trading.
However, the negative impact of the UPP stock on leading real state stocks was broken yesterday compared to trading on Monday. Emaar was able to bounce up from its intraday lows and closed in the positive area even after UPP had cast a negative outlook for real estate stocks. Emaar also bounced amid increasing rumours in the market that the company might release its 2009 results during the weekend.
Despite the bounce, turnover continued to decline, with 209.3 million shares worth Dh242.2m changing hands. UPP was the top active stock while Emaar, Arabtec, DFM and DSI stocks attracted good turnover.
Rashad also highlighted the negative impact of foreign investors on the market sentiment. “There is continuous concentration on the movements of foreign investments in the market. Foreign investors are moving according to their own strategies, which should not affect investment decisions of other investors. Foreign investors represent a small section of DFM compared to local, Arab and GCC investors. There is a deep, unhealthy trend of tracking foreign investors’ movements. This trend should end and the market participants need to set up their own investment strategies,” he said.
Shiv Prakash, Equity Investment Analyst at MAC Capital Advisors, said DFM has been under continuous selling pressure for the past few days with some bounce seen in between, followed by selling pressure again from higher levels, which wiped off the gains and caused the market to close on new lows.
The DIC stock advanced 3.49 per cent yesterday to close at Dh0.89. The company announced net profits of Dh963 million in 2009, a 39.2 per cent drop compared with the Dh1.583 billion reported in 2008. Earning per share reached Dh0.27.
The company’s revenues also declined to Dh3.672bn last year compared with Dh4.357bn in 2008. However, assets of Dubai Investments surged to Dh15.145bn last year against Dh14.237bn in 2008.