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Equities Track Global Slump on Obama Plan

Dubai’s benchmark index plunged five per cent to hit fresh six-week low as Emaar Properties dropped a near-maximum 9.73 per cent and Dubai Financial Market lost 9.43 per cent. Abu Dhabi’s index also fell for a fourth session running, slumping to a six-week low as property stocks plunged, tracking losses on Dubai’s benchmark.

“Unfortunately our markets aren’t correlated with global markets on the way up but we have an exaggerated correlation on the downside,” said Matthew Wakeman, EFG-Hermes managing director for cash and equity-linked trading, told Khaleej Times.

Obama’s move to bar US banks from owning, sponsoring or investing in hedge funds for proprietary profit sent global equities tumbling late last week, which spurred selling on regional markets including Egypt when they reopened on Sunday.

Dubai Financial Market’s General Index, or DFMGI, tumbled 4.97 per cent to 1,570.09 points, its lowest finish and largest decline since December 9. Volumes also increased by more than a quarter from the Thursday, indicating rising selling pressure.

Emaar shares plunged 9.73 per cent to Dh2.97, its lowest close since December 10. Arabtec tumbled 8.05 per cent to Dh2.17 and Dubai Financial Market lost 9.43 per cent to Dh1.44 as 12 stocks decline by more than five per cent. Shuaa Capital PSC, the UAE’s biggest investment bank, declined as much as 8.66 per cent to Dh1.16, the lowest intraday level since May 26. Emirates NBD, the UAE’s biggest bank, lost 1.93 per cent to Dh2.54.

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange’s General Index fell 1.39 per cent to 2,600.09 points, its lowest finish since December 10. Aldar Properties plunged seven per cent, RAK Properties dropped 5.7 per cent and Sorouh Real Estate declined 6.6 per cent.

“Today’s move looks an overreaction to me given current valuations and recent weakness. The uncertainty caused by the delay in earnings hitting the tape hasn’t helped,” Wakeman said.

He said domestic news flow is very thin right now and investors are slowly losing their appetite for risk given the declines we have seen in the last 6 weeks or so.

“The sooner we get fourth-quarter results on the tape the sooner we can make better informed investment decisions,” he said.

“Emaar, Arabtec and DFM have been the most volatile and the most active stocks — they were the ones speculators are playing with and so were expected to see the most selling pressure,” said Ayman El-Saheb, Darahem Financial Brokerage director of operations. “There’s no good news in the market.”

“The buyers before were only speculators, it wasn’t coming from institutions,” Saheb added.

“So with what happened internationally and the lack of local liquidity, there was no way for the market to move but down.”

In regional markets, Oman’s MSM-30 Index fell 0.5 per cent, Bahrain’s measure lost 0.7 per cent and the Kuwait Stock Exchange Index dropped 0.6 per cent. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index gained 0.3 per cent, paring some of Saturday’s 1.4 per cent decline.

muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com

With inputs from agencies