Equities slip, investors reduce risk

20/05/2011 00:00 AST

Dubai’s benchmark slipped 0.4 per cent, taking its May losses to 3.1 per cent, on Thursday.

“Pretty much the whole market is being driven by external and macro level factors — there’s a bit of uncertainty in global markets in general,” says Robert McKinnon, ASAS Capital chief investment officer. “People want to take risk off the table, going into the weekend.”

Emaar Properties fell 0.9 per cent after saying it would write off its investment in Dubai Bank following a government takeover.

“We’re at the later stage of these write offs, so the market is looking past it,” added McKinnon.

Abu Dhabi’s index eased 0.2 per cent, halting a two-day rebound as Dana Gas and Sorouh Real Estate each slid 1.5 per cent. Egypt’s Orascom Telecom hit a six-month high after its first-quarter profit soared following the sale of a stake in another operator, while Gulf Arab markets fell.

Orascom Telecom’s shares climbed 7.2 per cent, their highest finish since November 22 and largest gain in seven weeks. The operator’s quarterly profit rose to $813 million from $49 million a year earlier. Analysts welcomed a bigger than expected gain in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), but attention is now on Orascom’s future structure after Russian operator Vimpelcom bought assets of its parent company Wind Telecom in a $6 billion deal.

The Egyptian benchmark index rose 1.2 per cent, taking its gains to 4.9 per cent this week as local retail traders and some Arab Gulf investors returned.

Institutional buying lifted Oman’s index from the previous day’s 17-month low. The benchmark ended 0.3 per cent higher, snapping a nine-session losing streak. “We have seen institutional buying interest at the lower levels,” said Kanaga Sundar, Gulf Baader Capital Markets head of research. “Today’s buying is seen as a bounce back, the market was expecting it.”

Bluechips Bank Muscat and Renaissance Services rose 0.6 and 0.8 per cent respectively.

Reuters