Mega losses in Abu Dhabi's major banks sent the capital's index to a new nine-month low.

None of the 10 biggest companies on the ADX advanced yesterday, with seven declining and three closing flat, to push the capital's index down 1.82 per cent to 4,393 points. It has now declined in 13 of the past 14 sessions.

"Abu Dhabi has suffered from recent concerns over the Dubai property sector," said Sanyalaksna Manibhandu, Emaar Saudi Financial Services head of research.

"As we all know, the Abu Dhabi property market is five years behind Dubai in terms of delivery of units and so there shouldn't be any need for Aldar and Sorouh to be hit, but they have been because investors look at UAE property stocks together. So if Union Properties gets hit, then so too are Aldar and Sorouh.

"Emaar held up for a while because of its greater exposure to foreign property markets, but it has now seen a lot of selling."

Etisalat fell 0.55 per cent, but the big losers were in banking; First Gulf Bank fell 4.28 per cent, while Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi dropped 5.04 and 4.97 per cent respectively.

The index's latest decline comes amid depressed turnover, with Dh570 million of shares traded yesterday.

"The ADX should find the bottom at 4,150 points," said Manibhandu.

"If you look at the trading patterns of previous years and believe that August is a trading low, then the bottom is unlikely to be reached until the first week of September. Perhaps the index will then see some consolidation and flat lining before beginning an uptrend in October."

The ADX should find strong support at 4,300 points because this mark represents a 38 per cent Fibonacci retracement of its rally from 2,840 to 5,173 points, while further support can be found at the 50 per cent retracement level of 4,000 points.

Meanwhile, Aldar and Sorouh, Abu Dhabi's top traders in volume and value terms, both finished flat. This is the first time in August Aldar has not fallen, while Sorouh has avoided ending in the red for only two sessions this month.

"Aldar and Sorouh will attract overseas funds because both are no longer at their foreign ownership limits," said Shiv Prakash, Mac Sharaf Securities technical analyst.

Rak Properties was also unchanged and so it seems selling in the capital's real estate sector is abating, which is undoubtedly a positive sign. Losers outnumbered gainers by four to one at ADX. Aabar was the most notable gainer, surging 3.45 per cent to Dh3.85, but this has done little recoup its recent losses which now stand at 19 per cent since July 10. (Matt Smith)


DP World slides

DP World fell for the second successive session, this time dropping 2.53 per cent to $0.77.

The ports operator has now shed 7.2 per cent since hitting a month-best of $0.83 on Friday. It saw

10.8 million shares change hands yesterday.

Damas was the sole gainer on the Dubai International Finance Exchange, adding 2.04 per cent to $1 following two transactions worth a combined $500,015. Depa was unchanged on $1.30 after a solitary trade.