UAE stock markets see mixed results

The Dubai Financial Market closed up 0.5 per cent today, while the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange fell 0.77 per cent. Abu Dhabi property companies Aldar and Sorouh were rated "buy" by Citigroup, but despite that Aldar fell in price, while Sorouh was unchanged. Stock markets are closed today and will not reopen until Thursday, Dec 11.

Nabil Farhat, the senior partner at Al Fajr Securities in Abu Dhabi, said the main impact of the long holiday would be to shield local markets from the buffeting of volatile international equities. "This holiday couldn't have happened at a better time," he said. "I think we may see some announcements to restore investor confidence." The Ministry of Economy and the financial regulator, the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority, could not be reached for comment.

Fabio Scacciavillani, an economist at the Dubai International Financial Centre, said he thought the long break was a coincidence brought on by the fact that the UAE National Day holiday, Arafat Day and Eid al Adha were all so close together. Regional markets had a mixed day today, which for some was the last day of trading before the Eid holiday. The Saudi Tadawul rose 1.22 per cent, while the Kuwait market fell 0.21 per cent. The Tadawul will be closed from Wednesday, Dec 3 until Saturday, Dec 13.

The smaller markets were similarly mixed - Doha rose 1.26 per cent, Bahrain posted a gain of 0.28 per cent, while Muscat fell 0.52 per cent. afoxwell@thenational.ae