By: Bedour El-Raie
Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) concluded the week on a negative note, weighed by its leading sectors particularly energy, real estate, and banks.
The general index lost 0.51% or 24.71 points to close at 4,855.94 points.
The energy sector decreased 3.04% after Dana Gas and TAQA dropped 4.05% and 4.26%, respectively.
UAE bourses continue to suffer selling pressures amid falling liquidity, which results in a sharp drop this week, commented Iyad Al-Bareeqy, general manager of Al Ansari for Financial Services.
He ascribed the falls to margin calls, which tend to deepen market losses as they are tied to falling prices and as they coincide with declines across global and oil markets. All of this has heightened to investors fears, prompting them to sell, Al-Bareeqy told Mubasher.
Thursday’s trading session was the lowest in terms of declines, the analyst went on, noting that there was some intermittent buying on stocks whose prices had fallen to attractively-low levels, the analyst added.
The real estate sector shed 2.87% after Aldar Properties declined 1.28%, while the telecom sector and its only stock Etisalat fell 0.59% each, and the banks sector decreased 0.14% after First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) shed 0.29%. On the other hand, the consumer staples sector gained 3.13%, while the insurance sector edged up 0.32%.
Meanwhile, Raed Diab, head of research at KAMCO, noted that the strong rebounds seen in US markets were likely to entice investors to build investment positions particularly after blue chips had fallen to attractive price levels.
Should global, and particularly US, conditions stabilise along with a recovery in oil prices, it is expected that investment portfolios would re-enter the market, the analyst told Mubasher, indicating that a rise in oil prices would be beneficial to regional governments and stocks.
