Abu Dhabi drops on weak sentiment and thin volume

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) witnessed another bleak session yesterday as trading volume came under pressure due to weaker sentiment.

In the absence of any major buying interest from market players the general index fell marginally 14.25 points to close at 2,758.09 points, netting a minuscule fall of 0.51 per cent.

Mirroring weak trading sentiment on the bourse, the ADX recorded Dh86 million of turnover and volume of more than 37 million shares in 1,285 deals involving 35 scrips.

"The ADX also fell but was less volatile," Hesham Bakry, Institutional Sales Manager at Al Futtaim HC, told Emirates Business. "However trading value is very low because of all the trading that is happening on the DFM. "I think this week will carry on like this with the bleak trend continuing. We can expect some stability only after the annual results appear. We are expecting better-than-expected results from the corporate sector."

The ADX opened encouragingly at 2,776.49 points as Sorouh led the early gains and went on to close 0.74 per cent higher at Dh2.73, while Aldar eased 0.2 per cent and closed at Dh5.03.

Reflecting the sideways trading, 20 stocks declined, 10 advanced and five remained unchanged.

Shiv Prakash, a senior technical analyst at MAC Capital, said: "Intraday, if the market gives a break above the critical pivot levels of 2,763 we could see the continuation of the bullish move until the 2,773 resistance levels. If it remains below the pivots then the support comes at 2,739 points."

Esca agreed to extend the mandate for First Gulf Bank's buyback by one year, and as a result the bank's shares added 0.92 per cent to close at Dh16.50.


GCC slips into red

All the GCC bourses with the exception of Saudi Arabia closed lower yesterday as they were unable to hold on to the previous day's gains following profit taking in heavyweight stocks.

Saudi's Tadawul index rose marginally by 0.38 per cent, while the DFM led the losses followed by Kuwait with 1.63 per cent, Muscat with 0.77 per cent, Bahrain with 0.75 per cent, Qatar with 0.69 per cent and the ADX with 0.51 per cent.

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