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UAE indices report modest gains

DUBAI— The UAE stocks reported modest gains yesterday with key market indices posting marginal gains. The national benchmark, the 38-stock NBAD General Index closed 58 points (0.3 per cent) up at 18,530 points while the Dubai Financial Market Index gained 0.8 per cent to close at 1,169 points.

Although the gains on some of the leading service sector counters including Emaar and Etisalat looked promising on Saturday, the sector as a whole reported modest gains yesterday. The banking sector reported relatively low volumes with falling share prices. While the NBAD bankings sector subindices slipped 4 points, the service sector gained 161 points.

The two bourses together reported a turnover of Dh2.15 billion. On DFM both volumes and turnover were higher yesterday. In 8196 trades, the market traded 143.8 million shares worth Dh1.79 billion. Leading property shares Emaar and Union Properties gained 25 fils and 17 fils (2.2 per cent), respectively. The Shuaa scrip posted a modest gain of 10 fils while the Amlak slipped 15 fils. Amlak, yesterday announced that its net profits (before depositors share) increased 340 per cent to Dh132 million for the first three quarters of the year against Dh 30 million recorded during the same period last year. Although the results announced after the trading hours, analysts did not expect any dramatic gains in the share prices.

Among the DFM-listed bank shares, Dubai Islamic Bank and National Bank of Dubai closed higher while the Commercial Bank of Dubai scrip slipped 65 fils to close at Dh19.25. On the Abu Dhabi bourse, the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank share gained Dh 2.20 while the While the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and the Union National Bank scrips slipped 30 and 60 fils respectively.