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Markets Extend Losses; DFM Falls 5 Per Cent

dubai — The UAE equities markets extended their losses on Tuesday as foreign investors trimmed their exposures in the real estate and banking sectors on worries over global financial crisis.

Dubai’s market alone has lost over Dh50 billion in market capitalisation since the start of the current week.

The Dubai’s stock benchmark index declined 182.64 points, or 5.14 per cent, to 3,369.15 points. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange’s (ADI) General Index shed 162.87 points, or 4.58 per cent, to 3,395.31 points. In the last three sessions, Dubai’s main index has slipped 18.5 per cent, while ADI’s general index has lost 14.18 per cent.

“Foreigners, who have invested a lot in real-estate companies, are taking their cash back to support their positions in global markets,” Bloomberg quoted Motaz Herzallah, a senior broker at Emirates Securities LLC in Abu Dhabi, as saying.

“Local investors have no more cash because they kept buying as shares fell. They didn’t expect companies like Emaar or Aldar to reach such low levels,” Herzallah said.

The real estate sector, both at DFM and ADI, faced a decline of 4.35 per cent and 7.75 per cent, while the banking sector slid 4.2 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively. Aldar, Abu Dhabi’s biggest real-estate developer, fell 9.9 per cent to Dh5.91 while Emaar lost 2.5 per cent to Dh5.92 per cent. Shares in Emirates NDB and Dubai Islamic Bank fell 3.79 per cent and 4.76 per cent, respectively while Dubai Investments ended more than 13 per cent lower.

imranmaqbool@khaleejtimes.com