IPO of Abu Dhabi developer Eshraq oversubscribed

Market Wrap: Abu Dhabi developer Eshraq was oversubscribed as its initial public offering garnered more interest than expected

How the ADX closed on May 11, 2011.

An initial public offering by Eshraq, the Abu Dhabi property developer, received more interest than it required to sell 55 per cent of the shares it was putting up for offer, on the last day of the subscription period yesterday.

More Business news: Editor's pick of today's headlines

Last Updated: May 11, 2011

Dubai's Emirates Airline sees profits soar 52% to set record The global economic recovery last year helped Emirates reach record net profits of $1.5bn, although high fuel prices dampened the performance.  Read article

Microsoft Skypes for $8.5 billion Microsoft has made its biggest purchase ever by acquiring Skype for $8.5 billion in cash. Read article

The rise and fall of India's little loans Industry Insights // Authorities in India act after lenders are accused of exploiting the poor with high interest rates in microfinance. Read article

Etisalat rules out any resurrection of bid for Zain Etisalat will not make another bid for Zain, and it says the deal broke down because of a Kuwaiti law that would have almost doubled the value of the US$12 billion transaction. Read article

Video goes viral as Gulf leads the world for YouTube views Gulf residents are world's heaviest users of YouTube, with 120 million videos viewed a day in the wider Mena region. Read article

"Despite launching a real estate offering at a difficult time for the market, we managed to oversubscribe the IPO," said Majd Maaitah, the director of securities services at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

Eshraq wanted to raise Dh825 million (US$224.6m) in the country's first IPO outside the insurance sector to test the public market in two years.

Final details, including when the company will list on the Abu Dhabi stock market, will be released at a later date, Mr Maaitah said.

On UAE bourses, first quarter results dictated the movement of the market.

Energy giant Taqa fell to its lowest point in almost two months foreign exchange losses and a tax hike dragged on first quarter earnings.

Its shares have shed more than 15 per cent in value in just more than 10 days. Yesterday it closed 1.4 per cent to Dh1.38.

Volumes on UAE bourses have been light as long-term investors take a step back while speculators dominate the market.

"When we see low volumes of around 200 million on [UAE] markets, it's the speculators that are the ones dictating the movement of market in absence of long term investor," said Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief investment officer at CAPM Investment.

He added that with first quarter results now largely behind most traders, speculation on second quarter results had begun.

"It's not going to be worse than the first quarter for most companies, but you have to pick and choose," he said.

Dubai's market ended flat at 1,608.49 points and the Abu Dhabi market edged 0.2 per cent higher to 2,675.79 points,