The Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange recovered for the second consecutive session yesterday after taking positive cues from the global markets.
Retail and renewed institutional buying support enabled the DFM general index to climb 8.05 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 1,605.51 compared with the previous close of 1,597.46. Meanwhile, the ADX ended 29.13 points, or 1.17 per cent, up at 2,526.53.
All sectors on the DFM, with the exception of banking, closed higher. The ADX's construction and energy indices closed lower while the rest of the sectors moved northwards.
"Some positive earnings and growing speculation that the worst of the global recession is over followed through to the UAE markets as retail and institutional investors both added to their positions," Mathew Wakeman, MD, Cash and Equity-Linked Trading at EFG Hermes, told Emirates Business.
"Some of the UAE results so far haven't been great, but that was priced in already and the results haven't been bad enough to send us cascading lower."
The DFM opened on a higher note and advanced further to touch the day's high of 1,626.98 points within the first half-hour and later moved within a 20-point range.
Du rose 2.77 per cent to Dh2.59 after the announcement of positive first quarter results. Emirates NBD, which announced a 20 per cent rise in total income during the first quarter, gained less than one per cent to close at Dh2.74.
Shiv Prakash, a technical analyst at MAC Capital, said: "The trend was mixed, with some profit booking seen on intraday resistance levels near 1,630. Later buying on lower levels near 1,600 managed to give a positive close.
"The markets moved in a narrow range of 25 points. The traded value of shares was Dh526 million, up 48 per cent compared with the previous session's Dh355m. This indicates some buying in selected stocks such as Arabtec and DIC."
Most investors remained concerned about swine flu, though speculators felt this was a good time to buy.
Wakeman added: "I still think we are going to move in a sideways trading range for the next few months as markets look for evidence of an improving economic backdrop. My estimates for the band would be 1,550-1,650 on the DFM and 2,475-2,575 on the ADX."
A similar trend was seen across most GCC markets with investors showing buying interest.
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