Abu Dhabi bourse inches up on thin volumes; telecom, realty indices surge

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange yesterday saw another session of low trading volumes as the general index moved in a restricted range.

The index recorded a minuscule gain of 2.05 points, or 0.08 per cent, to close at 2,703.56 points.

The telecom, construction, energy and realty indices closed higher while the banking, insurance and consumer indices fell.

"Same factors that affected the DFM also influenced trading on the ADX," Hussam Al Husseini, Head of Brokerage at Emaar Financial Services, told Emirates Business. "But the ADX was not as active or volatile compared as the Dubai bourse. There's nothing to say about the trading, most of it was speculative as day traders tried to gain benefit from the shallow market."

Aldar and Sorouh were active and closed almost flat at Dh3.58 and Dh2.14 respectively. Etisalat was also active following the news that it had entered into an agreement with Global Crossing to provide connectivity to the US, Canada and Latin America from the Gulf. The telecom major gained 0.05 per cent and closed at Dh11.90.

Earlier marginal gains on Wall Street and the Saudi bourse failed to cheer local markets. Subdued global markets and absence of any positive triggers from the local economy put the trading sentiment at a low ebb.

"Oil prices are positive but the UAE markets have lost their correlation with global markets owing to strong local factors," added Al Husseini. "Considering the present adverse conditions in the market, I don't think the correlation will come back in the near future."

Abu Dhabi's market was 0.2 per cent down at 2696.44 points in the first hour of trading. Heavyweights such as Aldar Properties put the market under pressure. Another market major, etisalat, slipped 0.4 per cent to Dh11.80.

The market may witness minor index support around the 2,700 level. Many stocks were trading close to their minor support levels.

RAK Cement shares up

RAK Cement moved up following the board's approval of a 10 per cent cash dividend.

The company informed the exchange that its general meeting held on February 25 had approved the financial results and the dividend for 2009. The shares gained 2.99 per cent to close at Dh1.78.

FGB buys back 141,163 shares

First Gulf Bank informed the exchange that it had bought back a further 141,163 of its shares – equal to 0.0103 per cent of the total share capital – at a purchase price of Dh16.75 per share. This brings the total number of shares bought back so far to 25,726,163, while the company has permission to purchase a further 111,773,837.

FGB received SCA approval for the share buyback on November 5, 2008, and renewed it for another year on December 30, 2009.

FGB shares rose marginally by 0.6 per cent to close at Dh16.95.

GCC moves in narrow range

The GCC bourses witnessed lacklustre trading yesterday as all closed with movements of less than one per cent. The Saudi and Muscat markets closed in the red while the DFM, ADX and Qatar closed higher.

Cement shares on the Saudi market rose following the HSBC report that said local cement sales had risen by more than 20 per cent so far this year. Al Rajhi Bank pulled the index lower while Sabb traded flat. Trading on Qatar bourse was halted for an hour.

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.