Dubai’s Shares Retreat on Speculation Five-Day Rally Overdone - Businessweek
By Mourad Haroutunian
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai’s shares retreated for the first time in six days on investor bets the gains prompted by investor optimism that Emaar Properties PJSC would report higher earnings were overdone.
Emaar, the developer of the world’s tallest skyscraper, fell for the first time in three days after reporting quarterly profit. Dubai Investments PJSC, the owner of stakes in more than 40 companies, fell the most in two weeks. The DFM General Index, up 6.3 percent this month, declined 0.9 percent to 1,525.93 at 12:25 p.m. in the emirate. The 31 companies on Dubai’s gauge trade at about 9.4 times estimated earnings compared with 10.6 times for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Dubai’s index “has been performing well in the last couple of weeks,” said Samer Darwiche, a Dubai-based analyst at Gulfmena Investments. “Some investors are booking profits today after good results from Emaar.”
Emaar, the United Arab Emirates biggest developer by market value, decreased 0.67 percent to 2.96 dirhams. The stock, which is up 15 percent this year, had earlier fallen to as low as 2.9 dirhams. Emaar’s fourth-quarter net income rose to 716 million dirhams ($195 million) as it cut costs and generated more revenue from hotels and international operations, it said after trading hours yesterday. Dubai Investments fell 5.3 percent to 66.3 fils.
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., the utility known as Taqa, dropped as much as 4 percent to 1.20 dirhams, the biggest intraday decline since Oct. 31. Taqa said full-year profit fell 26 percent to 752 million dirhams ($205 million) as it booked a 528 million-dirham charge related to its Canadian operations and paid higher U.K. taxes.
Qatar’s QE Index declined 0.5 percent and Kuwait’s gauge fell 0.4 percent. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index and Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index dropped less than 0.1 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index climbed 0.1 percent, while Oman’s MSM30 Index and Bahrain’s measure rose 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
--Editor: Claudia Maedler, Daliah Merzaban, Shanthy Nambiar
To contact the reporter on this story: Mourad Haroutunian in Riyadh at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ;