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Dubai equities shine brightest in GCC this year

Year-to-date gains of 6.5 per cent highest among all Gulf stock markets, data shows

The Dubai Financial Market General Index’s year to date gains are the highest among its GCC peers, data showed on Sunday.

According to data from Kamco Invest, the benchmark recorded its third consecutive monthly gain and the second-biggest monthly gain among the GCC markets last month, rising 1.3 per cent to close at 4,325.45 points.

This pushed the benchmark’s year-to-date gains to the highest in the GCC at 6.5 per cent. The overall index surged during the month due to the growth of the financial index, which recorded 1.8 per cent growth during August 2024 to close the month at 3,170.4 points.

The financial indices’ growth was mainly attributed to gains in large-weighted banks and insurance companies including Emirates Investment Bank (5 per cent) and Dubai Islamic Bank (5.5 per cent). “The industrial index recorded the biggest monthly gain of 3.9 per cent to close the month at 2,979.1 points mainly driven by a gain in shares of Parkin that was up nearly 11.3 per cent during August,” a report, written by Junaid Ansari, Kamco Invest’s head of investment strategy & research, Mohamed Ali Omar, associate and Vineetha K. Yeluri, analyst, said. The communications sector index followed with a gain of 3.8 per cent after the sector’s only constituent company, Emirates Integrated Company, recorded a 3.8 per cent share price rise during the month.

In terms of monthly performance, Watania International Holding topped with a gain of 42.3 per cent followed by International Financial Advisors, Dubai Refreshment and United Kaipara Dairies with gains of 17.3 per cent, 16.0 per cent and 14.9 per cent, respectively.

In terms of trading activity, total monthly volume dropped 22.4 per cent to 4.1 billion shares vs. 5.3 billion shares during the previous month, while monthly value traded fell 14.5 per cent to Dh8.0 billion as compared to Dh9.3 billion during July 2024. Shares of Drake & Scull International topped the value traded chart with total trades worth Dh1.1 billion followed by Shuaa Capital and Union Properties at Dh401.5 million and Dh360.3 million, respectively. In terms of monthly volume, Emaar Properties topped with 2.0 billion traded shares followed by Emirates NBD and Dubai Islamic Bank at 986.4 million and 888.6 million shares, respectively

In Abu Dhabi, the benchmark FTSE ADX index fell marginally by 0.6 per cent last month, registering its first monthly decline after two consecutive months of gains to close the month at 9,284.93 points. The monthly fall also strengthened the indices’ YTD 2024 decline to reach 3.1 per cent in August.

The performance of the ten sector indices on the exchange was steeply skewed to the decliners during the month as six indices recorded declines while the four remaining indices witnessed gains during the month, Kamco data showed.

The health care index posted the largest decline last month, falling 8.4 per cent to close the month at 2,612.5 points. The fall was due to the 7.7 per cent drop in shares of Burjeel Holdings during the month. On the other hand, the telecommunications index had the largest monthly gain during August with a 10.2 per cent uptick to close the month at 4,476.4 points mainly due to the 10.7 per cent share price jump of Emirates Telecom Group.

In terms of monthly stock performance, Al Khaleej Investment Co. topped the monthly gainers chart in August with a monthly gain of 44.2 per cent, followed by Apex Investment and Finance House which recorded gains of 32.4 per cent and 26.4 per cent, respectively. On the decliners side, Hily Holding took the lead registering a 26.4 per cent fall in its share price during August 2024 after the company reported a loss of Dh9.1 million during Q2-2024. Al Wathba National Insurance Co. and Aram Group were next with share price declines of 16.7 per cent and 10.0 per cent, respectively.

Trading activity on the exchange decreased during August 2024, after witnessing a broad increase in July-2024. Total volume of shares traded declined by 15.1 per cent in August 2024 to reach 5.9 billion shares as compared to 6.9 billion shares during the previous month. On the other hand, the total value of shares traded recorded a drop of 11.6 per cent to reach Dh22.7 billion during August as compared to Dh25.6 billion in July 2024. Adnoc Drilling topped the list of the most active stocks table during the month with 654.5 million traded shares followed by Apex Investment and Multiply Group which traded 620.1 million shares and 540.1 million shares, respectively.

In terms of value traded, IHC topped the table with Dh4.6 billion worth of shares changing hands during the month followed by Adnoc Drilling and Alpha Dhabi Holding Company at Dh2.9 billion and Dh1.6 billion, respectively.

In the wider region, the MSCI GCC index witnessed a marginal gain of 0.2 per cent during the month reflecting the mixed performance at the country level. Oman was the best performing market in the GCC during the month with a gain of 1.8 per cent that came after two consecutive months of decline.