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Dubai leads Gulf peers in equity gains

Solid corporate earnings results set the tone for the rest of the year

The Dubai stock market gained the most among its Gulf peers last month, recent data showed.

According to Kamco Invest’s GCC Markets Monthly Report, the DFM General Index registered a growth of 5.9 per cent to close the month at 4,268.1 points, its second consecutive monthly gain. The monthly performance pushed the year-to-date gains for the DFM index into the positive zone and at the second-highest level in the GCC at 5.1 per cent, the report showed.

Six out of the DFM’s seven sectors recorded growth during the month. The Utilities index recorded the biggest monthly gain of 8.3 per cent to close the month at 904.15 points, mainly driven by gain in shares of Empower that was up nearly 13.0 per cent. The financials sector followed with a gain of 7.7 per cent after the sector’s only constituent company, National International Holding, recorded a 163.9 per cent share price rise during July. The communication services index was next, recording a 6.1 per cent monthly gain to close the month at 1,021.19 points, mainly driven by a 6.1 per cent share price jump for Emirates Integrated Telecom Co (du). The real estate index also witnessed strong growth in July, gaining 5.3 per cent to close the month at 8,191.60 points.

On the decliners’ side, the consumer staples index declined 2.3 per cent during the month to close at 91.56 points.

In terms of monthly stock performance, National International Holding topped with a gain of 163.9 per cent followed by Shuaa Capital and Dubai Insurance Co. with gains of 80.2 per cent and 28.9 per cent, respectively. On the decliner’s side, Emirates Islamic Bank topped with a decline of 18.5 per cent followed by Gulf Navigation Holding and Agility with declines of 10.1 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively.

Total monthly volume traded increased by 25.6 per cent to 5.3 billion shares as compared to 4.2 billion shares during the previous month, while monthly value traded also rose 49.4 per cent. Shares of Emaar Properties topped the value traded chart with total trades worth Dh1.9 billion followed by Emirates NBD and Dubai Islamic Bank at Dh1.5 billion and Dh912.9 Mn, respectively. In terms of monthly volume, Drake & Scull International topped with 1.2 billion traded shares followed by Shuaa Capital and Union Properties recording 739.9 Mn and 393.3 Mn shares traded during the month, respectively.

According to the real estate report by WCapital, the property market in Dubai is set for substantial expansion, with more than 30,000 housing units anticipated to be handed off in the second half of this year. The total number of new housing units expected to be handed off in 2024 is expected to reach around 48,000, a significant increase from over 17,000 in the first half.

In Abu Dhabi, the FTSE ADX index was up by 3.1 per cent during July-2024 closing the month at 9,338.96 points and recording its second consecutive monthly gain after the 2.2 per cent growth it witnessed in June-2024. In terms of sectoral indices, seven out of the ten sectors recorded growth during the month.

On the gainers side, the consumer staples index led the way with 18.0 per cent index gain to close the month at 14,927.33 points mainly due to the 19.3 per cent share price gain of Agthia Group. All the constituent companies of the consumer staples sector witnessed gain in share prices during the month. The real estate index followed with the second highest gain of 16.0 per cent as most of the constituent companies witnessed share price growth during the month led by Aldar Properties Co. with a gain of 18.1 per cent during the month followed by Eshraq Investments that registered a gain of 1.9 per cent. The gain in shares of Aldar Properties reflected solid results for H1.

On the decliners side, the utilities index led the way with a 13.3 per cent slide during the month to close the month at 10,846.32 points followed by the health care and consumer discretionary indexes with declines of 3.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, the only constituent of the utility sector index, fell 13.3 per cent during July.

Shuaa Capital topped with a gain of 80.2 per cent followed by Commercial Bank International and Bank of Sharjah with gains of 65.0 per cent and 53.1 per cent, respectively. On the decliner’s side, ARAM Group topped with a decline of 13.5 per cent followed by Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. and Hayah Insurance Co with declines of 13.3 per cent and 12.9 per cent, respectively.

In terms of trading activity, total monthly volume traded increased by 51.5 per cent to 6.9 billion shares as compared to 4.6 billion shares during the previous month, while monthly value traded also increased by 46.1 per cent to Dh25.6 billion as compared to Dh17.5 billion during June-2024.Shares of International Holdings Company topped the value traded chart with total trades worth Dh5.5 billion followed by Alpha Dhabi Holding and Al Dar Properties Co. at Dh2.0 billion and Dh1.7 billion, respectively.

In the wider region, GCC equity markets witnessed broad-based gains during July, backed by solid corporate earnings results that set the tone for the rest of the year's earnings season in the region. The MSCI GCC index was up for the second consecutive month during July and closed the month with a gain of 4.4 per cent, the biggest monthly gain this year. The sector performance chart for the month also showed a broad-based positive performance in the GCC, the report said.