DFM hitched to global slide

Dubai's stock exchange declined yesterday, tracking global markets, as investors cut positions ahead of a crucial meeting in Europe.

Leaders from the European Union were expected to discuss the region's debt crisis and Greece's potential exit.

The share price of Emirates NBD, the UAE's biggest bank by assets, lost 1.4 per cent, closing at Dh2.71 on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM). Emaar Properties, the developer behind the Burj Khalifa declined 2.3 per cent to Dh2.90.

The DFM General Index fell 1.1 per cent to 1,480.10 points. The index, which rallied 30 per cent at the start of this year, has erased much of its gains. It is now up 9 per cent.

Movement on Dubai's stock market has become increasingly correlated with global markets in the absence of local catalysts, said Julian Bruce, the director of institutional equity sales at EFG-Hermes in Dubai. "There are no domestic drivers. No-one is talking about the MSCI Emerging Markets inclusion, and the general consensus is that it won't happen."

The UAE is under review for an upgrade to "emerging markets" status next month.

The country is now considered a "frontier market" by MSCI, an international index compiler.

European leaders were set to meet late yesterday in Brussels to discuss the region's debt crisis, which has wiped almost US$4 trillion from equity markets worldwide this month.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index rose 0.1 per cent to 2,475.52.

Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait's index fell 0.2 per cent to 6,366.95, Oman's declined 0.5 per cent to 5,721.27, Qatar's retreated 0.3 per cent to 8,467.42, and Bahrain's was little changed at 1,137.65.

The Saudi Tadawul declined 0.5 per cent to 7,061.43 points.