By: Mahmoud Gamal
Dubai – Mubasher: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) saw a negative performance on Monday, amid increased sales of blue-chip stocks.
The general index declined by 1.15% or 41.87 points to reach 3,603.98 points.
The real estate sector led losers with a 2.39% decline as Arabtec Holding and Emaar Properties sank 9.9% and 1.9%, respectively.
The investment sector slid 1.85% after DFM Company and Dubai Investments tumbled 1.9% and 1.24%, respectively. The transportation sector fell 1.24% as Air Arabia levelled down 1.63%.
The banks sector decreased 0.4% as Emirates NBD and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) lost 0.45% and 0.32%, respectively.
The market was weighed by continuous profit-taking in blue-chip and defensive stocks, in addition to the annual losses posted by some companies which negatively affected investor sentiment, capital market analyst Nawaf Al-Ajmi told Mubasher.
Arabtec incurred accumulated losses of AED 4.6 billion by the end of 2016, representing more than 100% of the capital. In addition, Drake and Scull International’s (DSI) losses stood at AED 976 million, accounting for 43% of the capital.
On the other hand, mid-cap stocks like DXX Entertainments and SHUAA Capital rose 9.4% and 2.3%, respectively.
Trading volume reached 464.36 million shares on Monday, compared to 378.64 million shares on Sunday. Turnover amounted to AED 645.64 million, compared to AED 633.93 million.
The UAE markets are likely to continue their volatility on Monday, Al-Ajmi concluded.
Translated by: Julian Nabil
