(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) The Dubai benchmark stock index yesterday dropped 0.6 per cent to close at 5,407.65 as the lack of interest among investors is contributing to the bearish summer season. Shares in Abu Dhabi slipped 0.01 per cent at 5,005.17 points.
Dubai Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance Co (Aman) and Emaar Properties were among the losers on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index, which saw 100.7 million shares traded at a value of Dh488.5 million.
"There is a general lack of interest because of the time of year," said Ali Khan, the head of equity trading at Arqaam Capital Ltd, in a Bloomberg report. "We have summer coming on. This is the only thing that I can put it down to. It is a good time to selectively accumulate."
Aman slumped 2.4 per cent to Dh3.30 after it reported an 82 per cent fall in second-quarter profit while Emaar, the biggest publicly listed real-estate developer in the Middle East and Africa, lost 0.9 per cent to Dh10.50 following a writedown on its US unit.
Al Mal Capital, a Dubai-based investment bank, said Emaar wrote down Dh165 million related to John Laing Homes in the second-quarter, but added that the goodwill of Dh2.5 billion for its US operations as at end-2007 was unaffected. Emaar bought the California-based unit in 2006 for 1.05 billion, but the US is now suffering from a housing mortgage crisis.
Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co (du), declined 0.5 per cent to Dh5.61 as it borrowed from a group of 17 lenders in its first public loan for the expansion of its mobile and fixed-line network. The company's second-quarter loss narrowed to Dh43.8 million from Dh280.8 million as sales trippled.
Deyaar Development, Dubai's third-biggest publicly traded property developer, was flat at Dh2.10 as it signed an agreement to develop One Za'abeel, a 36-storey mixed-use project at the World Trade Centre roundabout in Dubai, for the state-owned Investment Corp of Dubai. Abu Dhabi National Takaful Co was the biggest loser on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange with a fall of 10 per cent to Dh7.03.
