Dana Gas declined at the open as foreign investors remain worried about its operations in Egypt amid continued protests.
The gas explorer and producer declined as much as 4 per cent to 71 fils at 10am. According to data by the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, foreign investors were net sellers of US$2.6m on Wednesday.
Analysts say the protests will not affect Dana operationally, but may lead to delays in payments.
"Operationally we don't think this will cause any impact as Dana's operations are outside of Cairo," said Scott Darling, an analyst at Nomura in Dubai. "But they may face late payments on their hydrocarbons products from Egypt's national oil company," he said.
It depends on how long the Egypt unrest will continue, which may be as far as their next election, he said.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index declined 0.1 per cent to 2664.64.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index lost 0.2 per cent to 1624.55
Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait's measure was flat at 6971.00, Bahrain's measure was also unchanged at 1460.67. Oman's bourse was also unchanged at 6947.14. Qatar's bourse gained 0.3 per cent to 9046.26. The Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index was closed for the day.
