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Dubai stocks drop 
most in three weeks


DUBAI — Dubai’s stocks fell the most this month on concern Dubai World is offering creditors interest that is about a fifth of the market rate and after global markets slumped on fraud allegations at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Arabtec Holding PJSC slipped the most since February after a unit of the construction company won’t bid for a contract to build a 1.1 kilometres (0.68-mile) skyscraper in Saudi Arabia. Emaar Properties PJSC retreated 3.9 per cent.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index lost 2.3 per cent, the biggest drop since March 29, to 1,775.56 at the close in Dubai. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index fell 0.9 per cent at 1:48 pm in Riyadh.

Arabtec tumbled 5.6 percent, the most since Feb. 14, to Dh2.51. The plan was withdrawn for “various reasons associated with the requirements of the Kingdom Tower,” Arabtec said in a statement read over the phone to Bloomberg News today.

Emaar, the developer of the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, fell to Dh3.90. Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest Islamic lender, retreated to the lowest level in a month, falling 3.8 per cent to Dh2.29.

Abu Dhabi’s measure declined 1 per cent, the most in more than two weeks, on concern a cloud of ash from volcanic eruptions in Iceland will disrupt flights to and from Abu Dhabi ahead of a real estate exhibition in the emirate this week.

The number of people attending the property exhibition in Abu Dhabi is likely to drop because of flight cancelations, said Majed Azzam, a real estate analyst at Al-Futtaim HC Securities.

Aldar Properties PJSC, Abu Dhabi’s biggest real-estate developer, fell 4.8 per cent, the most since Jan. 26, to Dh4.20 and Sorouh Real Estate Co. lost 2.9 per cent to Dh2.38.

Iceland’s Volcano

“There’s a lot of foreign ownership in Aldar and Sorouh,” Azzam said. “Whenever there is bad or good news globally, the stocks tend to overreact. Even though the property conference is directed more at Asian investors than the European market, the ash cloud doesn’t help sentiment.”

The Muscat Securities Market 30 Index fell 0.4 per cent and the Bahrain All Share Index retreated 0.3 per cent. Qatar’s gauge declined 1 percent and Kuwait’s measure was little unchanged. —