Gainers outnumber losers on Abu Dhabi exchange

Times are tough on the Abu Dhabi index, with investors loathe to take up new positions as they remain preoccupied on regional politicking and US woes.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange dropped 1.04 per cent to 4,888.87 points to take its losses to 2.2 per cent this week and make it seven declines out of 10. Gainers outnumbered losers by four to one.

"The situation is getting worse," said Wadah Al Taha, a senior financial analyst.

"Closing below 4,900 is not a positive sign and among the major gainers there aren't really any companies with solid fundamentals – it's hard to justify the recent gains in the likes of Methaq, for example.

"Institutions have no appetite for entering the market and have been little swayed by the second quarter figures."

The best daily turnover of the week – Dh1.3 billion – could not stem the losses as heavy declines in the real estate sector dragged the index down.

Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate plunged 3.77 and 2.96 per cent, with the latter's closing figure of Dh8.84 its lowest since late March, while it has lost almost a tenth of its value in a little over a week.

Many of the blue chips also struggled, with National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank dropping 0.25 and 1.77 per cent, respectively, and etisalat lost 0.5 per cent, although First Gulf Bank closed in the green. The gainers were all small fry, with Methaq posting a 6.7 rise to Dh7.59, while Union Cement, Abu Dhabi Aviation and Qatar Telecom all claimed decent advances.

"Stocks that make gains are immediately facing profit taking, sometimes two or three times in the same session. This is causing chaos and small investors simply don't know what to do," said Taha.

DP world plunges to 18-week low

Regular readers will not be surprised to hear that DP World fell yet again on the Dubai International Finance Exchange.

The ailing ports operator fell 2.56 per cent to $0.76, which is a new 18-week low as 2.8 million of its shares were traded.

Depa closed unchanged on $1.38 after seeing just two transactions completed, while Damas fell 2.91 per cent to $1 on three trades.

Kingdom Hotels was another to suffer, losing 0.86 per cent to $5.75, while the usually-dormant Gold Fields surged 4.6 per cent to $13.50.