Weak volumes hit markets

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index and the Dubai Financial Market General Index each declined 0.3 per cent.

Markets continued to sink on low volumes today. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) General Index and the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index each declined 0.3 per cent, to 2,499.36 and 1,490.52 respectively. Although shares valued at Dh71 million were traded on the ADX, only Dh30m of that was public trading after a Dh41m private sale of 3 million First Gulf Bank shares. Those shares closed unchanged at Dh13.85.

"Volumes are really low at the moment and the market is very inactive," said Saad al Chalabi, an institutional trader at AlRamz Securities in Abu Dhabi. "There is no interest to do any trades. Everyone is holding off today." Among the top movers on the ADX were Aldar Properties, which fell 2.5 per cent to close at Dh2.27, and Etisalat, which declined 0.5 per cent to Dh10. Dubai Islamic Bank was the most active stock on the DFM, with more than 8 million shares traded. It was unchanged at Dh1.88.

Air Arabia added 0.2 per cent to close at 80 fils, while Ajman Bank fell 1.9 per cent to 75 fils. Qatar's index added 0.3 per cent to close at 7,218.52, Oman's declined 0.1 per cent to 6,264.25, and Bahrain's was down 0.6 per cent to 1,422.72. Kuwait remained at 6,666.50. The Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index dropped 0.2 per cent to 6,071.72. [e-mail]