(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Dubai stocks continued its downward spiral with a drop of 1.3 per cent on Wednesday as mounting fears about an impending US military strike on Syria triggered more sell-off.
Investor looks at screens displaying stock prices at the Dubai Financial Market. The DFM general Index fell 1.3 per cent to 2,516.48 points at close on Wednesday. - Reuters
Leading a regional market slump, the DFM General Index, which went down six per cent in the morning to 2,400 points, recovered to close at 2,516.48 points, taking the two-day slump to 8.2 per cent.
Emaar Properties, Dubai's biggest publicly traded developer, closed unchanged at Dh5.70 after retreating as much as seven per cent intra-day.
Arabtec shares fell 2.93 per cent at Dh2.32. Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, also known as du, fell 5.01 per cent to Dh6.26.
The yield on Dubai's 5.591 per cent bonds rose nine basis points, or 0.09 of a percentage point, to 4.87 per cent, the highest since June 26.
Abu Dhabi's index fell 2.2 per cent to 3,737 points, bringing the two-day decline to five per cent.
In regional markets, Saudi Arabia's Tadawul opened nearly two per cent down but rebounded from the steepest drop in two months, gaining 0.4 per cent to 7,751 points. Egypt's EGX 30 Index was down 2.1 per cent to 5,226 points.
Oman's benchmark index retreated three per cent to 6,641 points and Kuwait's gauge declined 0.8 per cent to 7,708 points. Bahrain's index gained 0.3 per cent to 1,190 points. Qatar's stock market suffered 2.3 per cent dip to 9,548 points.
Dubai's benchmark has rallied 55 per cent this year, the highest among the 40 biggest stocks markets, after MSCI upgraded the UAE to emerging-market status.
Analysts said the rally this year sent valuations for Dubai's benchmark to a 38 per cent premium over the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the widest gap on record. The drop has left shares in the DFM index trading at 13.5 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with a multiple of less than 10.4 for the MSCI gauge.
In Dubai, wholesale and retail trade accounts for almost a third of the economy, which grew at the fastest pace in five years in 2012 and is set to expand by 4.6 per cent on average through 2015, according to government estimates.
The two-day consecutive decline in Dubai shares happened as consumer confidence in the UAE rose to its highest ever level.
The latest MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence ranked the UAE with a score of 94.7, with its consumers "extremely optimistic" about all five indicators measured in the index.
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