UAE traders buy property stocks on bourses

16/03/2018 07:47 AST

UAE traders resorted to brisk buying in property stocks in the last one hour of trade on Thursday removing the sluggishness witnessed in the market in the past few weeks.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index accumulated gains in the last one hour of trade, closing 0,95 per cent higher at 3,197.30.

Emaar Properties closed at Dh5.92, up 2.25 per cent, while Damac Properties closed 1.94 per cent higher to Dh3.16.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) closed 0.37 per cent higher to Dh5.43.

Emaar Development ended 1.19 per cent higher to Dh5.09 while Arabtec closed 0.87 per cent higher to Dh2.33.

“Emaar’s price was trading below its book value and at a multiple of 6 times forward price earnings for 2018 which was not justified. Investors were also concerned about changes in the law of escrow accounts. We think they might have missed the positive impact on the sector and companies that have strong liquidity and generating positive cash flow such as Emaar and Damac,” Tareq Qaqish, managing director of asset management at Menacorp. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange general index closed 0.52 per cent higher to 4,542.74.

Aldar Properties closed 0.1 per cent higher to Dh2.25. Etisalat closed 0.15 per cent lower at Dh17.8 while Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank closed 0.13 per cent higher to Dh7.14.

Value

“Investors were waiting for a catalyst, well here you go, valuation is very cheap, UAE is expected to grow by 3.9 per cent in 2018 and corporate earnings are expected to grow further,” Qaqish said. The Dubai index has been trading in a tight range of 3,150-3,200 since the past seven sessions. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index closed 0.4 per cent lower at 7,744.68. The Qatar exchange index closed 1.11 per cent higher to 8,847.79, continuing its gaining streak.

The Muscat MSM 30 index closed 0.05 per cent higher at 4,896.93. The Kuwait index closed 0.18 per cent higher at 6,760.23.

Gulf News