Regional shares fall

UAE shares dropped slightly yesterday as investors closed positions in advance of third-quarter earnings. The Dubai Financial Market General Index dropped 0.7 per cent to 1,742.63. Emaar Properties lost 0.7 per cent to Dh3.94. The Dubai developer is holding a shareholders' meeting on November 3 to vote on whether non-UAE nationals will be allowed to sit on the board of directors. Arabtec Holding lost 1.7 per cent to Dh2.25 a share.

Brokers blamed the index's weak performance on investors selling large blocks of shares. "We dropped 20 points. Somebody somewhere needed some money and it caused a ripple effect," said Rami Awwad, the operations manager at Al Awael Securities in Abu Dhabi. "I wouldn't build too much on this, tomorrow should be a better trading day." The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General index lost 0.3 per cent to 2,712.42. Mr Awwad attributed a lack of movement among Abu Dhabi stocks to investors preferring to remain at their current levels rather than make bold moves.

In the capital, Dana Gas was the most actively traded stock on the exchange with volumes of 13.5 million shares but the company remained unchanged at 83 fils. Aldar Properties also remained largely unchanged at Dh2.49. Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait's measure gained 0.6 per cent to 7,054.70; Bahrain's index added 0.8 per cent to 1,472.51; Oman's bourse remained unchanged at 6,504.34; Qatar's index lost 0.9 per cent to 7,756.27; and the Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index lost 0.3 per cent to 6,343.86.