[2008-03-17]  UAE shares drop
Shares in the UAE dropped yesterday, with Emaar Properties and Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) as among the biggest losers, on concern that the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis in the US is far from over.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index fell 78.5 points or 1.4 per cent to close at 5,675.47 while the Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM) Index slumped 1.1 per cent at 4,681.97 points.

"Investors are worried about the domino effect from the credit crunch and positive news here is paling in comparison with the risks abroad," said Ahmed Mitkees, a researcher at NBD Securities, in a Bloomberg report.

US stocks plunged on Friday after Bear Stearns Cos required a bailout from the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The S&P 500 retreated 2.1 per cent while the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index in Europe lost one per cent.

Emaar, the largest real-estate developer in the Middle East by market value, fell 2.1 per cent to Dh11.65 after awarding a villa-development project worth Dh520 million ($142 million) to Arabtec Holding. The latter was unchanged at Dh12 on DFM.

The only publicly traded stock exchange in the Middle East, DFM Co declined 3.2 per cent to Dh5.66 while the regions biggest courier company, Aramex, slipped three per cent to Dh2.90 and National Central Cooling Co, known as Tabreed, lost three per cent to Dh2.92. Tabreed appointed Khadem Abdulla Al Qubaisi as its new chairman, the company said in a statement.



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