Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Tuesday trimmed early gains and fell in the afternoon session taking the benchmark index down by 5.95 points or 0.36 per cent to close at 1,668.82.
Trading on DFM was up until the mid session, but lack of risk appetite and selling pressure seem to have weighed on the investors' sentiments.
The market breadth was negative as out of 21 stocks traded, only 5 managed to advance. Bellwether stocks like Emaar, Arabtec, Aramex, Drake and Scull International, Union Properties, among others ended in the red.
Among sectoral indices, financial, real estate, transportation and telecom sectors posted decline.
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange also slipped marginally by 1.35 point to close at 2,729.87.
Weak investors' sentiments seem to have got support from sell-offs seen across major Asia Pacific and European markets on Tuesday. Some of the major Asia-acific indices such as Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Nikkei 225, Straits Times ended lower.
Major European bourses were also trading in the red as per the latest data, as Ireland's bailout plan failed to impress investors for the second day in a row.