By: Mahmoud Gamal
Dubai-Mubasher: Dubai Financial Market (DFM) saw a bearish performance on Thursday amid lower bank stocks, continuous profit-taking and exchange of positions between selective stocks, analysts told Mubasher.
The general index decreased 0.7% or 24.48 points to 3,355.24 points.
Turnover reached AED 1.03 billion ($272.99 million) on Thursday, compared to AED 490.42 million ($133.5 million) on Wednesday.
Trading volume stood at 795.94 million shares as compared to 360.74 million shares.
The market’s fall was mainly attributed to profit-taking after some stocks reached the price targets set by portfolios, said technical analyst Thabet Al-Harbi.
As a result, portfolio investors started to exchange positions between mid-caps and blue chips to make use of their attractive price levels, Al-Harbi added.
The market was weighed down by oil prices which dipped early on Thursday, in addition to anticipations of the European Central Bank’s policy meeting convening today.
The banks sector declined 3.3% as Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) levelled down 6.6%.
The services sector slid 0.72%, weighed by Tabreed which lost 3.3%.
On the flipside, the real estate sector advanced 0.9% after Emaar Properties increased 1.8%.
Arabtec Holding added 0.6% and became the value leader with a turnover of AED 327.27 million. It saw trading of 184.87 million shares through 2,223 transactions.
