By: Mahmoud Gamal
Dubai – Mubasher: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) ended Wednesday’s trading session in green territory, encouraged by investor optimism about 2018 earnings reports of the banks sector and cash dividends of major firms, topped by Emaar Properties.
The general index grew 14.19 points, or 0.56%, to finish at 2,557.01 points.
The DFM’s market capitalisation rose by AED 1.23 billion to AED 340.94 billion, up from AED 339.71 billion on Tuesday.
Cautious Optimism
The member of the National Advisory Board of Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI) ascribed the DFM’s gains over the previous sessions to the upbeat outlook for the banks sector and the announcement of 2018 financial results.
The banks sector’s dividend distributions have been positive on the back of mounting challenges faced by the sector to meet liquidity standards, Wadah Al-Taha told Mubasher.
He added that the positive reports of the global institutions and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the resilience of the UAE’s economy, especially the banks sector, have boosted investor sentiment in the GCC nation’s bourses.
Liquidity
Al-Taha also noted that investors still have cautious optimism, which reflects the thin liquidity levels in the local equity markets.
Turnover on the DFM declined to AED 155.162 million on Wednesday from AED 175.95 million in the previous day, while the market’s traded volume dipped to 86.50 million shares, compared to 128.23 million in the previous day.
The banks sector led gainers with 0.99% after the heavyweight Emirates NBD and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) added 2.04% to AED 10 and 0.20% to AED 5.13, respectively.
The investment sector grew 0.58%, boosted by the stocks of Shuaa Capital and Dubai Investments, which went up 1.14% and 0.77%, respectively.
The transportation sector inched up 0.48% as Air Arabia increased 0.99% and Aramex hiked 0.23%.
The services sector increased 0.42% after Tabreed levelled up 4.35%, while the consumer staples sector added 0.33%, encouraged by DXB Entertainments’ 0.38% growth.
The real estate sector posted a 0.14% increase as Emaar Malls and Arabtec Holding advanced by 2.74%, 1.89%, respectively.
Translated by: Ahmed Shehata
