Dubai leads GCC stock markets in October

Dubai remained the GCC’s top performing equity market in October, registering the biggest monthly gain in the GCC at 1.9 per cent to close at 4,591.1 points, data showed on Sunday.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index maintained consistent positive performance for the fifth consecutive month, data from Kamco Invest showed. The monthly performance pushed the year-to-date gains for the DFM Index to the highest in the GCC at 13.1 per cent, a report, prepared by Junaid Ansari, Kamco’s head of investment strategy and research, Mohamed Ali Omar, associate and Vineetha K. Yeluri, analyst, showed.

Four out of the eight sectors recorded growth during the month. However, the overall index surged during the month due to a gain in real estate index, which recorded a 1.7 per cent increase in October, closing at 8,458.0 points. The gain in the real estate index was mainly attributed to gains in large-weighted Emaar Development (6.3 per cent) and Deyaar Development (4.0 per cent). The consumer discretionary index posted the biggest monthly gain of 11.3 per cent, closing at 1,572.0 points, primarily driven by a gain in shares of Taaleem, which rose by nearly 11.3 per cent during October. Similarly, the communications sector index was the second-largest gainer during the month with a 7.0 per cent increase after the sector’s only constituent company, Emirates Integrated Company, saw a equivalent gain in its share price during October.

In terms of monthly performance, National International Holding topped with a gain of 117.3 per cent followed by Dubai Insurance and Emirates Refreshment Company with gains of 31.8 per cent and 25.1 per cent, respectively. The gain in shares of Dubai Insurance came after the company and OneDegree, a Hong Kong-based insurer for digital assets, started issuing digital assets custodial risk insurance to their customers in UAE after gaining an approval from the Central Bank of UAE. On the decliner’s side, Takaful Emarat Insurance topped with a decline of 53.6 per cent followed by Emirates Investment Bank and Al Mazaya Holding Company with declines of 16.7 per cent and 13.5 per cent, respectively. Takaful Emarat Insurance recently announced the company’s share capital increase from AD25.65 million to Dh210. 652 million by issuing Dh185 million of new shares at issue price of Dh1.0 million.

In the wider GCC, the equity markets’ performance was mixed despite four out of seven markets registering gains during the month. The MSCI GCC Index recorded a decline of 1.5 per cent during the month that came after four consecutive months of gains. The decline mainly reflected declines in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi coupled with a marginal decline in Qatar.