By Thabet Shehata
Dubai – Mubasher: Dubai Financial Market (DFM) was down during January, continuing the decline for the sixth consecutive month, amid pressures from real estate stocks.
DFM market capitalisation lost AED11.7 billion ($3.2 billion) during the month to reach AED 296.4 billion ($80.7 billion), from AED 308.1 billion ($83.89 billion) at the end of December..
DFM benchmark fell 4.86% or 153.23 points to 2,997.77 points, while it stood at 3,151 points last month.
DFM losses are mainly attributed to real estate and investment sectors that were dragged by the downturn of Emaar, Arabtec, Dubai Investments, and DFM Company. Meanwhile, Emirates NBD and du enhanced banking and telecommunication sectors to end in the green zone.
Investment sector was the worst performer (-10.83%) as Dubai Investments and DFM Company fell by 12.4% and 3.25% respectively.
Real estate also slipped 9.74%, battered by losses of Emaar (-10.2%) and Arabtec (-4%).
On the positive front, telecommunication headed gainers with a rise of 5.88% as du stock rose to AED5.400.
Banking also edged up by 0.18%, amid gains of Emirates NBD, shrugging off the drop in Dubai Islamic Bank (-2.3%) and Amlak Finance (-11.3%).
Nonetheless, liquidity notably increased, by 24.8% to AED440 million from AED352.63 million last month.
Likewise, trading volume rose by 21.5% to 379.6 million shares, versus 312.3 million shares traded in the previous month.
Translated by Ahmed El-sayed Ali
