[2008-07-14]  UAE Stock Markets Shares fall as investors shun riskier assets
UAE shares continued to retreat yesterday as investors moved away from riskier assets. The Dubai bourse dropped 1.1 per cent to close at 5,287.63 while Abu Dhabis main index fell 1.4 per cent at 4,925.45 points.

Dubai Investments, which owns stakes in over 40 companies, slumped 3.7 per cent to Dh3.62 followed by the UAEs budget carrier Air Arabia with a slide of three per cent to Dh1.62 and Amlak Finance, the countrys second-largest mortgage lender, which declined of 2.9 per cent to Dh4.35.

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co (du) slipped 2.1 per cent to Dh5.56 while the biggest listed real-estate developer in the Middle East and Africa, Emaar Properties, decreased 1.5 per cent to Dh10.15.

Twenty-six companies traded on the Dubai Financial Market General Index with over 200 million shares valued at Dh675.3 million. Shares value on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index reached over Dh563 million.

Kamran Butt, the head of Middle East equity research at Credit Suisse Group AG, said in a Bloomberg report that investors are reducing risk exposure to equity markets by turning their back on "risky assets". He stressed: "Combine that with geopolitical risk and the fact that Gulf markets are not the most cheaply valued right now and you can see why markets are falling."

Washington has been pushing for tougher sanctions on Teheran in a standoff over Irans nuclear programme. The Iranian military last week test-fired a long-range missile which it said could reach Israel.

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa), the state-controlled investment company, lost 4.5 per cent to Dh2.78 in Abu Dhabi trading while Al Khazna Insurance Co was the biggest loser with a fall of 9.6 per cent to Dh2.53. United Arab Bank decreased 5.6 per cent to Dh7.40.

Source: Copyright © 2001 - 2008, K. Zughaibi & B. Kabbani General Partnership.