UAE shares end mixed

UAE stocks ended the day mixed as Dubai’s main benchmark index fell and Abu Dhabi’s key gauge rose.

Emaar Properties, the biggest publicly traded real estate company on the exchange, led the fall in Dubai, even after the company said it plans to build hotels in Egypt.

Meanwhile in Abu Dhabi, First Abu Dhabi Bank led the gains.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index fell 1.1 per cent to 3,430.88, while the Abu Dhabi Securities Market Index climbed 0.2 per cent to 4,530.81.

Traded volumes were below average in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

In Dubai, some Dh221.5 million worth of shares exchanged hands compared with the 50-day average of Dh568.9m.

In the capital, Dh146.6m worth of shares were traded compared with the 50-day average of Dh202.3m.

Shares of Emaar declined 2.3 per cent to Dh7.23. That came even after the company said that its Egyptian unit Emaar Misr would build two hotels on the North Coast of Egypt that will cost more than 3 billion Egyptian pounds.

Construction is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2018 and end in 2022.

Shares of First Abu Dhabi Bank increased 1.38 per cent to Dh11.05.

The bank said last week that its pro forma first-quarter profit – which includes that of FGB, with which it merged this month – increased 12.4 per cent amid rising revenues and cost savings garnered from the combination.

Net profit rose to Dh2.9 billion in the first three months of the year compared with Dh2.6bn in the same period last year, the bank said.

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