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Abu Dhabi: UAE markets remained flat on Tuesday as investors waited for a US Federal Reserve rate cut, which would likely be matched by the UAE Central Bank.
Dubai Financial Market's (DFM) general index advanced 0.64 per cent to 5,617.63, while Abu Dhabi's benchmark retreated 0.5 per cent to 4,578.24.
Some analysts attribute the performance to the correlation with the international markets, which responded positively to the recent discount rate cut in the US and the prospects of the federal fund rate cut.
"The coupling of our markets to international equities is exaggerated. There are of course some effects but not to the extent revealed by investors," Khalil Fouladi, ADSM's deputy chairman, said. He acknowledged that the decision of the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority to segregate the accounts held at brokerage firms was the major cause for the liquidity squeeze, which was apparent in the markets where the value of traded shares did not exceed Dh1.67 billion on Tuesday.
"This is evident if we consider the fact that international markets dropped by an average of 20 per cent since the beginning of the year, while in the UAE the trend is almost flat," he added.
In Dubai, Emaar Properties recovered by 0.88 per cent to Dh11.45, while the most traded DFM retrieved 2.72 per cent to close at Dh5.66. Other shares ended the session in the black, including Air Arabia and Deyaar Development, which recorded two and 0.83 per cent of gains to close at Dh1.98 and Dh2.42, respectively.
In Abu Dhabi a retreat of all the leading shares dragged the index down, with companies like etisalat and National Bank of Abu Dhabi falling 1.27 and 0.9 per cent to Dh23.40 and Dh22.55 respectively. The real estate sector dropped. Aldar Properties fell 0.5 per cent to Dh10.05, and Sorouh Real Estate dropped 0.9 per cent to Dh9.86.
Holiday: No trading on Thusday
The Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (Esca) announced that tomorrow is an official holiday on account of the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and that trading will resume on Sunday, March 23.
Esca also announced its approval for listing the Kuwaiti Ektetab Holding Company on the UAE stock markets as a public listed company within the first category, raising the total number of companies registered with the authority to 126.
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