Institutions, retail buyers buoy Abu Dhabi stocks

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), which rose continuously all last week, maintained its upward movement yesterday. Stocks on the bourse closed higher for the sixth consecutive session as buying support from both institutions and retail investors continued on positive cues globally and locally.

Mirroring the positive upbeat mood on the market, the ADX general index added 34.41 points to end the session at 2867.77 points, a gain of 1.21 per cent from the previous close of 2833.36 points. The index reached a 15-week high last week and hopes of positive news about Dubai World are influencing trading sentiment on the ADX as well as on the DFM.

Asmak, Bildco, UNB, RAK White Cement and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank were the top gainers while Finance House, AKIC, NMDC, GCIC and UCC were the top losers.

The consumer index, with a gain of 2.94 per cent, rose the most, followed by banking with 1.66 per cent, telecommunications with 1.20 per cent, real estate, 1.14 per cent, energy, 0.3 per cent and construction, 0.1 per cent.

"The same factors that influenced the DFM also affected trading sentiment on the ADX, which also moved on positive cues," Robert McKinnon, Chief Investment Officer at ASAS Capital, told Emirates Business. "The market has witnessed good upward movement for the past five sessions."

The International Energy Agency's (IEA) forecast of high demand for oil also improved investor sentiment. Realty majors Aldar, RAK Properties and Sorouh gained, each added more than one per cent to close at Dh1, Dh1.89 and Dh1.26 respectively.

Shiv Prakash, a senior technical analyst at MAC Capital, said: "Intraday, if the market remains above the pivot levels of 2854 we could see higher resistance at 2880/2893. A break below the pivot could take us lower until the 2841 support level."

Among the energy stocks, Dana Gas was the only gainer with a 1.15 per cent rise to Dh0.88, while Aabar and Taqa closed flat at Dh2.28 and Dh1.22, respectively. Barring Finance House, all banking stocks moved up as ADCB added 4.19 per cent, Adib 2.39 per cent; Bank of Sharjah 0.95 per cent; NBAD 3.78 per cent; Sharjah Islamic Bank 1.90 per cent; and Union National Bank 4.42 per cent.

DFM leads GCC bourses

With a whopping gain of 3.72 per cent, the Dubai Financial Market led GCC bourses yesterday and was followed by the ADX and the Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi indices.

The latter three bourses closed with gains of less than one per cent, while the Muscat and Bahrain stock exchanges closed with losses of less than 0.50 per cent.

On Friday, the oil price closed above $81 per barrel. Positive global cues and favourable oil prices boosted market sentiment on GCC bourses. Saudi's Tadawul reached a 17-month high as Sabic, Saudi Electricity and Al Rajhi Bank drove the day's gain. Qatar rose on the back of buying support for banking stocks.

Kuwait climbed higher as market heavyweights such as Global Investment House rose.

Zain shares closed higher at a 20-week high on the news of a proposed shareholder stake sale to India's Bharti telecom.

MODEST GAIN

The ADX recorded a modest turnover of Dh191.64 million as 89.59 million shares were traded in 2,044 transactions involving 32 stocks.

Investor focus has been on the DFM as prospects of any positive news that will push shares higher are much brighter there.

In comparison, the ADX has been more stable than the DFM. Speculators and institutions are expecting significant gains if Dubai World news is positive.

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