• Home
• /
• Local business

Dubai shares fall for fifth day on global economy, SHUAA retreats

The DFM General Index lost 1.4 per cent to 1,461.8, the lowest since February 2009. The measure tumbled 21 per cent this quarter, the most since the fourth quarter of 2008. Investment bank SHUAA slid the most in a week and Emirates NBD PJSC, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest bank by assets, also declined. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index retreated 0.5 per cent at 2:07pm in Dubai. Crude oil has fallen 8.2 per cent this quarter.

Declines are “in line with the global backdrop,” said Ali Khan, head of cash-equity trading at Dubai-based Arqaam Capital Ltd. “Focus is returning to the eurozone, disappointing data in the US and weaker oil.”

Emerging-market stocks decreased after the US Conference Board’s gauge of confidence among US consumers fell to 52.9 this month from a revised 62.7 in May as Americans became pessimistic about the outlook for the labor market and the economy.

Emirates NBD fell 2.8 per cent to Dh2.43, the lowest since March 7 and Emaar Properties PJSC slid for a third day, losing 1.3 per cent to Dh3.06, the lowest since June 17.

SHUAA lost 6.3 per cent to Dh1.05. The UAE’s biggest investment bank said Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief executive officer of its brokerage division, will leave the company at the 
end of August.

“Any high profile exit will likely test investor confidence, especially in this highly sensitive and volatile market,” said Saud Masud, a Dubai-based analyst at UBS AG.

Oman’s MSM 30 Index fell 0.2 per cent, Kuwait SE Price Index decreased 0.7 per cent and Bahrain’s gauge slid 0.4 per cent. The QE Index in Qatar dropped one per cent, Abu Dhabi’s measure lost 0.7 percent and Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index declined 0.2 per cent. —