Tuesday 1 December 2009

UAE Markets Lose AED33 Billion (US$9 Billion)

ADX down 8.2% and DFM 7.3%.  The ADX drop was the largest in is history.  The DFM hasn't had a drop like this for over a year.

On the ADX (Abu Dhabi) there was a broad decline with many stocks down 9% for the day.  While one would expect declines in the banking, real estate and construction sectors, there were also large declines in companies such as Aabar (AD Government owned energy company), Abu Dhabi National Hotels, Agithia Group (Food Company).  Clearly a general market sell-off as investors  rush to liquidity (cash).   Looking at individual stocks, the forward order books are one-sided - all "asks" (sell offers) and no "bids" (buy offers).  That suggests market pressure for tomorrow.

On the DFM (Dubai), essentially all of the market's drop was in the first 45 minutes of trading - from 1970.2 to 1942.6 with a further slight drop to 1940.36 in the last 45 minutes.  I couldn't find the forward order book summary.  But again a quick glance indicates a broad sell off as in Abu Dhabi.  I'd expect more selling pressure tomorrow at the DFM as well.

On Nasdaq Dubai, Dubai Ports lost 14.88% (and earned the distinction of being the stock with the largest drop and the largest trading volume).  You'll recall that the Government announced that DP would not be part of the debt standstill.

Trading patterns suggest an absence of buyers during today's session.  And as indicated above (at least based on ADX data), there don't appear to be many buyers waiting to jump in tomorrow morning. 

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