UAE indices declines marginally

Market pivotals including Emaar, Amlak, Union Properties, Dubai Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai and the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank slipped marginally.

The UAE benchmark, the 38-stock NBAD General Index slipped 27 points to close at 18,683 points. The banking sector subindex gained 98 points on the strength of modest gains posted by the Abu Dhabi-listed bank shares.

The service sector subindex was substantially down due to the profit booking on service sector counters. The Dubai Index slipped 4 points (0.37 per cent) to close at 1,175 points. Earlier during the week the Dubai Index had touched an all-time high of 1214.5 points.

Cautious trading on both bourses resulted in the markets reporting lower turnover of Dh.2 billion down by 33 per cent from the previous day. In 9,983 trades, DFM traded 138 million shares worth Dh1.79 billion. Emaar's huge investment plans failed to enthuse the investors. Though the stock climbed to Dh28.15, it slipped 15 fils from the previous day's closing price to close at Dh27.70. While Amlak slipped 25 fils, Arabtec and Arab International Logistics Company were down by 11 fils each.

In the banking sector, Emirates Bank and National Bank of Dubai shares gained 20 fils and Dh2.05 while the Commercial Bank of Dubai and Dubai Islamic Bank scrips slipped by Dh3 and 25 fils respectively. On ADSM, leading banking sector shares including the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and the Union National Bank shares gained 20 fils each. The ADCB closed intact at Dh17.05 and the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank slipped 40 fils to close at Dh132.20. In the service sector, Etisalat closed 55 fils down at Dh29.90.