UAE equities lose ground in May, reflecting regional trends

UAE equity benchmarks headed south over the last month, reflecting a broader trend across the GCC, as geopolitical issues and lower crude oil prices worsened a sell-off in global emerging markets.

According to a study published by Kamco Invest, the DFM General Index recorded a decline of 4.3 per cent during last month, its third consecutive decline after four straight months of gains, closing the month at 3,977.9 points. The monthly sector performance chart was skewed to the decliners with six out of eight sectors recording declines while the remaining two saw gains during the period. The decline in the financial sector (-3.1 per cent), the largest weighted sector in the exchange, was among the decliners dragging the overall general index into the red. Significant share price declines in several banks in the sector such as Commercial Bank of Dubai (-8.2 per cent) and Emirates Investment Bank (-4.4 per cent) contributed to the monthly index decline.

The consumer staples index witnessed the biggest monthly decline among sectors at -8.8 per cent to close the month at 84 points followed by the real estate index that witnessed a 7.9 per cent fall during last month to close May at 7,389.8 points.

According to monthly stock performance from Bloomberg, Al Mazaya Holding Company topped the monthly gainers table with 38.4 per cent jump in share price followed by National Industries Group and Mashreq Bank followed with gains of 28.1 per cent and 20.0 per cent, respectively. On the decliner’s side, Agility topped the table with a decline of 68.2 per cent followed by Al Salam Bank Sudan and Dubai National Insurance which recorded declines of 28.1 per cent and 20.0 per cent, respectively, during last month.

Trading activity witnessed moderate growth, with total volume traded rising by 14.9 per cent to reach 3.8 billion shares during last month as compared to 3.3 billion shares during April. The total value of shares traded during the month increased a relatively lower pace of 10.7 per cent, to reach Dh7.8 billion as compared to Dh7.1 billion during April. Drake & Scull International topped the monthly volumes, with 751.9 million shares changing hands last month followed by Union Properties and Gulf Emaar Properties which saw 284.4 million and 266.9 million of their shares change hands respectively.

On the monthly value traded chart, Emaar Properties topped the list with Dh2.0 billion worth of shares changing hands during the month, followed by Emirates NBD, and Dubai Islamic Bank which saw Dh931.1 million and Dh656.5 million value of their shares traded, respectively.

In Abu Dhabi, the FTSE ADX index fell 2.3 per cent last month, continuing its declining trend in 2024 to close the month at 8,862.58 points. The decline also steepened the fall in terms of YTD-2024 performance that reached -7.5 per cent, the second biggest in the GCC. The performance of the ten sector indices on the exchange was steeply skewed to the decliners during the month as nine indices recorded declines while the only remaining index witnessed a gain.

In the wider GCC, the MSCI GCC Index registered the biggest decline in 17 months after declining by 6.4 per cent during last month to close at 658.85 points. The decline reflected fall in four out of seven regional indices while three reported gains during the month. Saudi Arabia reported the biggest decline during the month with the Tadawul All Share Index (Tasi) falling by 7.2 per cent, the biggest monthly decline since September-2022, to reach the lowest level in more than five months.

• Business