Dubai equities continue upward march in January

The Dubai Financial Market General Index continued its upward march for the third consecutive month in January, showcasing its resilience maonga report showed.

According to Kamco Invest’s GCC Markets Monthly Report for January, the DFM General Index recorded the third-biggest monthly gain in the region last month. The benchmark gained 2.7 per cent during January 2024 to close at 4,169.1 points.

The monthly sector’s performance was skewed to the gainers during the month with five out of the eight sector indices recording gains while the remaining three sectors saw declines. Gains in the financial sector (six per cent) and the industrial sector (+2.8 per cent), the two of the three largest weighted sectors in the market, supported the overall gains during the month, data showed.

Five out the eight companies in the industrial sector witnessed gains during January, led by the 10.9 per cent gain in shares of Salik. The communications services sector topped the sectors chart for the month with a gain of 8.9 per cent. On the other hand, the materials index recorded the biggest monthly drop among the indices during January-2024 registering a 6.3 per cent decline to close the month at 105.4 points. The real estate sector followed with a 3.9 per cent drop to close the month at 7,324.1 points.

According to monthly stock performance from Bloomberg, Takaful Emarat Insurance topped the monthly gainers table with 91.6 per cent jump in share price followed by International Financial Advisors and Mashreq Bank with gains of 66.6 per cent and 28.9 per cent, respectively. Mashreq Bank reported a 130.3 per cent increase in its net profits that reached $2.33 billion in 2023. The growth in net earnings was attributed to the UAE’s significant economic growth, especially, the Emirates financial services sector.

On the decliner’s side, Dubai National Insurance topped the table recording a share price decline of 11.8 per cent followed by Al Salam Bank Sudan and Al Sagr National Insurance which recorded share price declines of 9.9 per cent each during January.

Trading activity on the exchange witnessed a strong growth during January-2024. Total volume traded increased by 61.0 per cent to reach three billion shares as compared to 1.9 billion shares during December-2023. Similarly, the total value of shares traded during the month increased at a relatively higher but closer pace of 62.4 per cent to reach Dh7.8 billion in January. Union Properties topped the monthly volumes traded chart recording 261 million shares changing hands during the month followed by Ekttitab Holding Company and Deyaar Development, which saw 218.5 million and 201.6 million of their shares change hands during the month, respectively. On the monthly value traded chart, Emaar Properties topped the list with Dh1.4 billion worth of shares changing hands during the month, followed by Emirates NBD, and Dubai Islamic Bank which saw Dh1.2 billion and Dh1.0 billion value of their shares traded, respectively.

In Abu Dhabi, The FTSE ADX index started the year with a marginal decline of 0.7 per cent during January-2024, closing the month at 9,508.32 points. The monthly decline was broad-based with eight out of ten sectors recording declines during the month.

On the economic front, the economy of Dubai increased by 3.3 per cent year-on-year during the first nine months of 2023 primarily driven by growth in tourism and transportation sectors, according to official government data. In context, the emirates’ food and services sector witnessed 11.1 per cent growth during the period as compared to Dubai’s Transportation & Storage sector which recorded 10.9 per cent growth. Comparatively, the real estate sector saw 4.4 per cent growth during 9M-2023. In the tourism sector, Dubai’s recovery from the pandemic continues as the city hosted 15.37 million overnight international visitors during the first 11 months of 2023, a 20 per cent increase from the similar period in 2022.

In the wider region, Kuwait was the best performing market in the GCC during January-2024 with a gain of 6.6 per cent, the highest monthly gain in almost five years, the Kamco report showed.

• Business