Telecom, real estate stocks drag ADX further down

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange fell for another session yesterday as selling pressure continued across the verticals. The general index declined to 2,444.6 points, down 28.08 points or 1.14 per cent, against its previous close of 2,472.68.

Real estate major Aldar's first quarter results had a negative effect on market sentiment and this resulted in a realty stock selling spree.

"Aldar's results were discouraging as its bottom line weakened," Hesham Bakry, Institutional Sales Manager at Al Futtaim HC, told Emirates Business. "The results impacted market sentiment in the negative way."

The company's results were good at the top line and low in terms of EBIT. Aldar recorded a sharp decline in EBIT margin from the fourth quarter of 2008 level of 12.5 per cent of revenue because of squeezing gross margin.

Aldar said it invested Dh5 billion in ongoing developments in the first quarter and this would have a positive effect in the forthcoming quarters. Aldar fell 6.27 per cent to Dh3.14. RAK Properties eased 3.45 per cent to Dh0.56 and Sorouh fell 5.22 per cent to Dh2.36.

Telecom major Etisalat pushed its sector's index down by 0.91 per cent. The telecom index was the third biggest loser after the construction and real estate indices.

Etisalat shares eased by 0.91 per cent to Dh9.85, Palestine Telecom was up 1.7 per cent at Dh102 while Sudan Telecom closed flat at Dh5.10 with a miniscule gain of 0.01 per cent.

Shiv Prakash, a technical analyst at MAC Capital, said: "The market continued its bearish trend and broke the channel supports of 2,475 on the daily charts. Stocks that lost ground included Arakan, FGB, Waha and Dana Gas. Taqa was stable at Dh1.84 and RAK Bank was near its upper limit levels. The market need a bullish close to confirm the support levels."

Meanwhile, Dana Gas, the independent energy supplier, has appointed Ahmed Al Arbeed as its new Chief Executive. Arbeed joined Dana as an executive director in January 2008. In addition the company appointed Rashid Saif Al Jarwan as Executive Director. Jarwan was recruited as General Manager in February 2006. Dana's shares fell 2.6 per cent yesterday, their fourth decline in five sessions.


Saudi index lone star

The Saudi stock exchange was the only GCC bourse to close in the black amid negative global cues and fears over the swine flu outbreak.

Saudi shares closed 0.9 per cent higher as the Tadawul index rose to 5,471.90, reversing early losses. Tadawul has gained more than 14 per cent so far this year – the best performance by any bourse in the GCC. Led by the petroleum and bank sectors, most of the stock on the Saudi bourse advanced marginally.

"A lot of uncertainty is never a good thing, especially when the market is consolidating a recent rally in the run-up to earnings releases," said Mathew Wakeman, Managing Director for Cash and Equity-Linked Trading at EFG Hermes. "Stability in Saudi should help the UAE markets to stabilise today provided we don't see a sharp fall in the US overnight or some flu cases closer to home."

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