Gulf equities reverse losses in June

Gains led by Qatar and Abu Dhabi bourses

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The FTSE ADX index recorded its first monthly gain during the year to close the month at 9,060.73 points. — File photo

Published: Mon 1 Jul 2024, 8:58 PM

Gulf equities reversed months of losses to end the month of June in the green, research showed on Monday.

According to Kamco Invest’s GCC Markets Monthly Report for June, after three consecutive months of decline, the GCC index monthly performance witnessed its first monthly gain during June 2024 amid mixed market performance in the region. The gains were primarily led by Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which rose seven per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.

The FTSE ADX index recorded its first monthly gain during the year to close the month at 9,060.73 points. The monthly gain also lowered the indices’ YTD-2024 decline that stood at -7.5 per cent during May-2024 to -5.4 per cent in June-2024.

The performance of the ten sector indices on the exchange was steeply skewed to the gainers during the month as eight indices recorded gains while the two remaining indices witnessed declines during the month. The utilities index posted the largest gain among the indices during June-2024 with a gain of 21.2 per cent to close the month at 12,515.0 points. The gain was due to the 21.2 per cent jump in shares of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), the only company in the sector, during the month.

The real estate index recorded the second-largest monthly gain during June-2024 with an 11.1 per cent uptick to close the month at 9,285.5 points mainly due to the 13.8 per cent share price jump of Al Dar Properties. The Basic Materials and Telecoms indices reported monthly declines of 1.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

In terms of monthly stock performance, Abu Dhabi National Company for Building Materials topped the monthly gainers chart, with its share price increasing by 88.2 per cent, followed by National Corporation for Tourism & Hotels and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, which recorded gains of 23.6 per cent and 21.2 per cent respectively. On the decliner’s side, Al Khaleej Investment took the lead registering a 26.4 per cent fall in its share price during June-2024 followed by Finance House and Al Wathba National Insurance which saw share price declines of 9.6 per cent and 9.5 per cent, respectively.

Trading activity on the exchange fell last month, after witnessing a broad increase in May. Total volume of shares traded declined by 36.2 per cent in June-2024 to reach 4.6 billion shares as compared to 7.1 billion shares during the previous month. The total value of shares traded recorded a drop of 30.5 per cent to reach Dh17.5 billion during June as compared to Dh25.2 billion in May-2024. Eshraq Investments topped the list of the most active stocks table during the month with 681.6 million traded shares followed by Multiply Group and Pure Health Holding Company, which traded 456.2 million shares and 228.8 million shares, respectively. In terms of value traded, IHC topped the table with Dh3.8 billion worth of shares changing hands during the month followed by Alpha Dhabi Holding Company and Al Dar Properties at Dh1.4 billion and Dh1.1 billion, respectively.

The DFM General Index rose 1.3 per cent during last month, after suffering three consecutive monthly declines which were preceded by four straight months of gains. The benchmark closed the month above the 4,000 points mark at 4,030.0 points.

The monthly sector performance chart was fairly balanced with four out of the eight sectors recording gains during the month, while the remaining four indices dipped in the red during the period. The financial sector (3.1 per cent) index, the largest weighted sector in the exchange, was among the gainers dragging the overall general index up into the green. Significant share price gains in several banks in the sector such as Commercial Bank of Dubai (+3.2 per cent) and Dubai Islamic Bank (+4.0 per cent) contributed to the monthly index growth. The consumer staples index witnessed the biggest monthly increase among sectors at +11.6 per cent to close the month at 93.8 points followed by the real estate Index that witnessed a 5.3 per cent growth during the month to close the month at 7,781.2 points.

According to monthly stock performance from Bloomberg, Drake & Scull International Company topped the monthly gainers table with 25.3 per cent jump in share price followed by Al Salam Bank Sudan and National International Holding with gains of 19.2 per cent and 16.2 per cent respectively. On the decliner’s side, International Financial Advisors topped the table with a decline of 9.9 per cent followed by Al Mazaya Holding Company and Emirates Investment Bank recorded declines of 9.5 per cent and 9.1 per cent, respectively.

Trading activity was mixed. Total volume traded in the exchange increased by 2.5 per cent to reach 4.2 billion shares in June as compared to 4.1 billion shares in May. The total value of shares traded during the month decreased 24.4 per cent, to reach Dh6.3 billion in June as compared to Dh8.3 billion in the previous month.

Drake & Scull International topped the monthly volumes traded chart recording 2.3 billion shares which changed hands during the month followed by Union Properties and Emaar Properties, which saw 322.9 million and 194.1 million of their shares change hands respectively. On the monthly value traded chart, Emaar Properties topped the list with Dh1.5 billion worth of shares changing hands during the month, followed by Emirates NBD and Drake & Scull International which saw Dh862.2 million and Dh803.01 million value of their shares traded, respectively.