Stock News: Dubai Investors Continue Cashing Out Ahead Of Large IPO

Investors in Dubai continued to accumulate cash in early trade on Thursday ahead of the $1.4 billion initial public offer of Emaar Malls Group, a subsidiary of Emaar Properties, the largest listed developer in the emirate.

The Dubai index fell 1.3 per cent as most stocks were in the red. Emaar itself was the main drag, falling 1.8 per cent as its shares no longer entitled their holders to priority allotment in the malls unit’s IPO.

Emaar plans to sell a 15 per cent stake in its unit and allocate about 30 per cent of the offer to retail investors who dominate trading in Dubai’s market. Subscriptions for the shares will open on Sept. 14.

Abu Dhabi’s bourse was nearly flat while Qatar’s benchmark slipped 0.2 per cent and hovered around the psychologically important 14,000 point mark.

The pull-back was largely due to banking stocks: Masraf Al Rayan slipped 0.2 per cent, Qatar International Islamic Bank was down 1.1 per cent and Doha Bank fell 0.5 per cent.

Profit-taking continued in Egypt, where the main index fell 0.5 per cent shortly after opening. Developer SODIC was the main drag, dropping 3.1 per cent. Cairo-based Naeem Brokerage downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy” on Wednesday, saying that all positive factors for it had already been priced in.