Real estate shares fell in early trading as yesterday's positive sentiment contracted on local markets.
The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index dropped 0.4 per cent to 1,667.93 points and the Abu Dhabi Securities General Index opened marginally higher at 0.01 per cent to 2,731.49 points.
Six stocks were down at the Dubai open, and none made gains.
Emaar Properties, which was one of the top gainers in trading yesterday, slipped 0.8 per cent to Dh3.62 and Arabtec fell 1.09 per cent to Dh1.81.
Dubai Investments Company lost 1.04 per cent to Dh0.86 and du, the country's second biggest telecoms operator, dropped 0.7 per cent to Dh2.91.
Property stocks did not fare much better in Abu Dhabi as Arkan Building Materials dropped 3.2 per cent to Dh1.82, though Rak Properties increased 2.2 per cent to Dh0.46.
Chinese equities struggled to recover yesterday's gains as speculation the country's government will raise interest rates threatened the economic outlook.
The Hang Seng lost 1.1 per cent to 22,907.98 points and Japan's Nikkei fell 1.6 per cent to 9,964.71.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has fallen 4 per cent since November 8.
A negative close on the Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday, also made for negative investor sentiment.
Oil dropped 0.7 per cent as January futures fell as much as 63 cents to $85.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Prices are up 4.9 per cent this month and 7.6 per cent this year.
The commodity also dropped as the dollar strengthened and traded at two-month highs against the euro. Sentiment for commodities weakens on a rising US dollar.
Gold was 0.4 per cent higher at $1,365.475 a troy ounce and silver gained 1.3 per cent to $27.060 an ounce.
