Banks weigh down Dubai’s DFM as month ends in red

Dubai: The main index on the Dubai bourse, Dubai Financial Market, fell over 1 per cent, with heavyweights across the board trading in the red on the last working day of the month.

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The DFM index dropped 1.2 per cent higher at 2,678.7 points, while Abu Dhabi’s ADX slipped 0.3 per cent at 5,030 points.

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A fresh batch of negative news awaited global investors, after relations between the United States and China deteriorated to a new low. US President Donald Trump passed a law backing Hong Kong protesters, provoking China’s ire and threatening to derail an interim trade deal between the world’s top two economies.

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With US markets closed for Thanksgiving, Asian shares excluding Japan, Japan’s Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai blue chips all closed weaker. A pan-European index opened 0.2 per cent lower, led by trade-sensitive sectors such as automotive and tech. This kept MSCI’s world equity index flat.

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“Going forward, global markets will remain sensitive to trade-related headlines, while closely monitoring the economic indicators to gauge the impact of measures undertaken by the global Central Banks,” analysts at Allied Investment Partners PJSC wrote in a report.

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“On the regional front, the equity markets will continue to take cues from global markets due to lack of developments within the domestic markets,” the analysts added.

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In Dubai, top lender Emirates NBD dropped 2.5 per cent and Dubai Islamic Bank slipped 1 per cent, with the banking benchmark trading 1.7 per cent lower. Emirates NBD has cut between 400 and 500 jobs since October, Reuters reported citing sources.

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Dubai real estate giant Emaar Properties fell 0.5 per cent, pushing its peers’ index down 0.8 per cent.

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In Abu Dhabi, market heavyweight First Abu Dhabi Bank added 0.3 per cent and telecoms firm Etisalat gained 0.4 per cent.

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At the end of November, DFM in Dubai recorded a monthly decline of over 2 per cent, while ADX in Abu Dhabi slipped a little over 1 per cent.

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