Stock News: Dubai Drops As Arabtec Resumes Freefall

Dubai’s bourse falls sharply soon after the opening as builder Arabtec tumbles its daily 10 per cent limit and other property-related stocks suffer.

The emirate’s main index sinks 3.6 per cent. Developer Union Properties also goes limit-down, Emaar Properties falls 2.5 per cent and contractor Drake and Scull plunges 7.3 per cent.

“I think you are now going into the realms of sentiment,” says Sanyalak Manibhandu, manager of research at NBAD Securities. “You had a snowball effect that began about a month ago and has gone from bad to worse.”

Dubai’s index is now down 27 per cent from the multi-year peak hit in mid-May, though it is still up 17 per cent year-to-date.

There is a “certain amount of panic” among investors, some of whom have suffered heavy losses this month, he says. But institutional buying at lower levels and second-quarter corporate results, expected later this month, are likely to stabilise the market, he believes.

“I think at some point there will be normalisation and people will buy back.”