Dubai & Abu Dhabi 17 Dec 2006

Market report for UAE shares Sunday 17 December 2006

A good show on DFM today with a 2% rise in the index to 4345 points and a healthy 1.37 bn dhs worth of trading from 7110 deals. ADSM fared less well with a marginal drop of 0.05% to 3030 points although volume was a reasonable 103m dhs worth of trading. Saudi's Tadawul index (TASI) was up by 0.8% to 8229 points on a solid 14.5 billion riyals worth of trading - continuing nicely on from the healthy 2.7% rise yesterday to 8162 points. The Kuwait Stock Exchange also had a decent 2.6% rise yesterday after the exchange punished several shareholders for non-compliance with regulations. Today the KSE fell by 1.2% though.

Dubai Financial Market (DFM)

EMAAR and AMLAK once again charged ahead with a 4.7% rise to 13.35 from EMAAR on almost 1 billion dhs worth of trades, and a 4.2% rise to 5.66 for AMLAK, also with a higher than usual 156m dhs worth. That kind of volume and rise for EMAAR amd AMLAK may indicate something more than just positive market sentiment is going on, especially since nothing else rose more than 2% except for GGICO - but that's a relatively illiquid share that bounces all over the place most days. GGICO were up 4.9% to 9.03 today by the way with a grand total of only 3 trades.

Other shares increasing today were DIB (2%), AMAN (1.9%), DIC (1.7%), DU (1%), IAIC (1.6%), and less than 1% from TABREED, TAMWEEL, and UPP.

Only three stocks fell today on Dubai Financial Market. SHUAA down 0.2% to 4.85, NBD down 2.6% to 8.77 and EBI with a solitary trade down 0.4% to 12.90.

Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM)

Despite the marginal fall in the ADSM index, 20 stocks rose while only 12 fell, with 5 remaining flat.

The biggest rises from FOODCO (5.2%) and SCIDC (4.6%) with only 7 trades between them. GCEM was up 3.2% to 4.13 on reasonable volumes for them. ADCB very active today with 11.6 m dhs worth traded and a 1.6% rise to 5.60. BILDCO also surprisingly busy with 8.4m dhs of deals done but share price flat at 4.17. Both of them ahead of ADIB by value which had a small 0.1% rise to 56.60. RAKCC was up 1% and SUDATEL up 0.1%. No other rises of more than 2% amongst the less active stocks.

FGB was the most active by volume with a huge (for them) 22m dhs worth traded and a 0.4% fall to 11.95. In the absence of any other news, my best guess is that FGB is buying back shares. Other falls today from TAQA down 3.3% to 2.32, RAKPROP down 0.7% to 1.39, AGTHIA down 2.3% to 1.27, DANA down 1.2% to 1.61 and ALDAR down 1% to 4.03.

AABAR and SOROUH traded but price was unchanged from Thursday's close.

RAKBANK had a rare single trade and the record fall of 9.5% to 7.15. FH also with a good drop - 4.8% to 8.50 and only 4 trades. Big ones though, over 300,000 shares changed hands.

RAKNIC (Ras AL Khaimah National Insurance Company) EGM from 13 Dec 2006 announced that up to 25% of its shares could be owned by foreigners now. Not that anyone got particularly excited with no trades going through today. The last time RAKNIC traded was 19 Oct 2006. Still, that's the third UAE insurance company to open up to foreign ownership this year. Perhaps indicative of more to come?

UAE equities 14 Dec 2006

UAE Market report for Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Market 

Thursday 14 December 2006

It was a bit of a mixed day in the markets today. DFM volumes were up to a respectable 1.5 bn dhs worth of trades from almost 9000 deals but the index fell very slightly in the end by 0.1% to 4262 points. ADSM also had increased volume of 143m dhs from 1426 deals and possibly the smallest rise on record - just 0.01% to close at 3031.85, a difference of less than 1 point from yesterday. The TASI was closed today as usual after a reasonable 1.5% rise yesterday with 11.5 bn riyals worth of trading.

Dubai Financial Market (DFM)

The DFM index started the day at 4262 points and shot up to over 4300 points in early trading with a slight fall and then rose again to 4334 points before falling back to about where it started at 4262 points.

Biggest rise from ARIG up 15% to 2.92 but nothing to get excited about - only one small trade, no doubt someone throwing in an order at market price before looking at the bid/ask spread. Other big jumps from WARE up 10% on two smallish trades, and NBD up 4% to 9.00 from 8 trades.

DIC up a reasonable 2.2% to 4.61 on higher than normal volumes of 160m dhs worth - probably related to the news of the completion of Dubai Investment's purchase of Saudi American Glass Company.

Other small rises of less than 1% from DIB, EBI, SHUAA, and UPP.

EMAAR fell back 0.8% to 12.75 but was up to 13.15 at its peak during the day. Once again responsible for about two-thirds of total DFM volume with 846m dhs by value. It looks like the strong rise yesterday may have been related to the annoucement about Emaar's Dead Sea project in Jordan, although it's relatively small as Emaar projects go. Other falls from AMAN (3%), IAIC (1.3%), AMLAK (1.8%), ARTC (0.7%), ARMX (0.7%), and DU (1.3%).

Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM)

Biggest rises from NBAD up 4.2% to 19.85, FOODCO up 3.7% to 5.61, and RAKCEC up 3.5% to 6.25. Most of the high volume shares showed an increase but not quite as dramatic as the top three. ADCB up 2% to 5.51, OILC up 1.55 to 10.25, AABAR up 1.4% to 2.25, UNB up 1.2% to 7.00 and SOROUH, DANA, TAQA, GCEM, and BILDCO all up less than a percent. BILDCO with only 1 trade going through - a sharp contrast from busy trading in previous days.

Significant falls from CBI (9.9%) on higher than normal trading. The only recent news was about the rights issue yesterday. PALTEL (Palestine Telecommunications) down 9.9% to 35.05 on a single small trade - the last time they traded on ADSM was Sep 2006. There was a disclosure yesterday saying they'd changed the date of the BOD meeting. QCEM (Umm Al Quwain Cement) down 6.7% to 1.93 from only 3 trades.

ALDAR had the highest trading by value on ADSM today with just below 30m dhs worth and an unpleasant 2.4% drop to 4.07. Unknown at this stage if there's any reason for that - the sukuk and foreign ownership is old news now. ADIB also heavily traded with 28m dhs worth but closing flat at 56.55 dhs.

Other falls of note were ADAVIATION (3.7%), ETISALAT (1.4%), RAKCC (0.5%) and FGB - still with much larger than normal trading volumes down 0.4% to 12.00.

Discuss and view previous reports at Dubai Share Talk discussion for December 2006.

UAE stocks Tue 12 Dec 06

Tuesday 12 December 2006

DFM recovered slightly today with a rise but ADSM was down another fraction by 0.1% to 3038 points. Saudi's Tadawul index (TASI) so far today not looking so healthy with a 1.2% drop to 7700 points and a couple of hours of trading still to go.

Dubai Financial Market (DFM)

DFM kicked off at 4160 points and had a quick rise to 4184 points before gradually dropping to 4148 by mid-session. It then picked up again and ended the day with a sharp rise to 4196 points. Volumes a bit thin with 400 m dhs worth from 3035 trades.

Biggest rise was from GGICO - up 3.6% to 8.61 from only 6 trades. TAMWEEL was popular with a 2.5% rise to 4.40 and 30m dhs worth of trading. EMAAR had a 1.2% increase to 12.30 dhs and, as usual, trading value at 218m dhs was half the DFM total for the day. Other rises from AMLAK (1.2%), ARMX (1%), DU (0.9%), DIB (0.7%), IAIC (0.3%), and TABREED (1.7%). UPP was unchanged.

Only four stocks fell on DFM today. ARTC down just one fil to 5.26, DIC down 0.5%, AMAN down 1.4%, and SHUAA down 1.4% to 4.75 continuing the 2.6% fall from yesterday - perhaps that critical article in Trend Magazine about Shuaa Capital still bothering investors.

Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM)

ADSM was relatively more hectic than DFM. Despite no trading from ADIB - presumably related to ADIB's suspended board meeting - there was still 96m dhs worth of trades from 907 deals with 10 stocks up, 19 down and 1 unchanged.

Biggest rise was 9.9% from ASMAK to 4.00. Well behind were FH (up 3.7%) AKIC (2%), and TKFL (1.5%) with only 1 or 2 trades each. FH (Finance House) with the record for the smallest trade today - only 10 shares in a single trade. The broker fees were almost as much as the value of the deal. INVESTB, UNB, OILC, FGB, ETISALAT and ADCB all rose less than 1% with ADCB more popular than usual - over 1 million shares traded.

FGB (First Gulf Bank) again busier than usual with the third highest volume by value - 10.5m dhs worth and a rise of 0.4% to 12.25. No news of any buy back, perhaps there's some other good news coming? SOROUH headed the ADSM volume tables with 17.6m dhs worth of trading and a 1.2% fall to 2.52. DANA pushed to second place with 13.7m dhs worth on a 1.2% fall to 1.61.

QTEL suffered the most today with a 7.8% drop to 214.80. EIC, DHAFRA, GCEM and TAQA all fell about 2% and the remainder including the more active stocks - RAKPROP, SOROUH, ALDAR, AABAR - falling 0-2%. NBAD fell 0.8% to 18.80 with volumes up from usual levels.

ALDAR price didn't move much even though the EGM yesterday approved a 12.8 bn sukuk and allowing 40% foreign ownership.

DHAFRA (Al Dhafra Insurance) saw only 2 trades go through but they added up to over a million shares. The last time any Dhafra shares were traded was in Sep 2006 - and that was only 75,000 shares. SUDATEL also more active than normal today with 6.5m dhs worth traded and a 1 fil fall to 7.88 dhs.

Discuss and view previous reports at Dubai Share Talk discussion for December 2006.

UAE shares Wed 13 Dec 2006

Wednesday 13 December 2006

A good enough day really. Even though ADSM was down slightly, there were more stocks rose than fell (just), and DFM was up by 1.7% on healthy trading volume. Saudi's Tadawul index (TASI) is up by 0.7% so far today on relatively light trading so far - but it's only halfway through the trading session there.

Dubai Financial Market (DFM)

DFM opened at just below 4200 points, drifted up slightly, down again to 4180 after an hour of trading and then climbed steadily to close at almost 4280 points with 1.2 bn dhs worth of trading from 7090 deals. Only 3 stocks fell, the other 15 that were traded all rose.

EMAAR and AMLAK surged ahead with a 4.3% rise to 5.53 from AMLAK, and a 3.6% rise to 12.85 for EMAAR - EMAAR volumes almost two-thirds of the DFM total at 722m dhs. Presumably general market sentiment rather than excitement over the appointment of the new director of EMAAR Healthcare.

All the actively traded stocks increased today - ARTC (1.9%), ARMX (1.8%), DU (0.6%), DIC (1.3%), DIB (1.8%), AMAN - Dubai Islamic Insurance (0.2%), IAIC (1.6%), SHUAA (0.8%), TABREED (1.6%), and TAMWEEL (0.4%).

DNIR had a single trade today (it's not often they even have one) with a fall of 4.4% to 3.25. WARE (PWC Logistics/Agility) had only 5 trades but almost a million shares were traded on a small drop of 1.5% to 20.00 dhs. Perhaps WARE were buying back more shares. NBD was unusually busy today with just over a million shares traded and a 3.9% drop to 8.65.

Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM)

Just over 100m dhs worth of trading on ADSM today from 1252 trades with 16 stocks up, 15 down, and 5 unchanged. Overall the index was down only 6 points to 3032.

Biggest rises from ADSB (5.8%), ADAVIATION (4.3%) with busier than normal trading for both companies. JULPHAR had a 4% jump to 1.84 on a single trade of only 9 shares. How odd. Trade value was 17 dhs, broker fees would have been 75 dhs. The buyer will need to see almost a 1000% increase in share price to be able to break even.

BILDCO (Abu Dhabi National Building Materials) were relatively active today - they might still be buying back shares. 3m dhs worth changed hands and the price was up by 3.7% to 4.16. TKFL (Abu Dhabi National Takaful) also a bit busier than usual with a 3.5% rise to 3.52 from 1.6m dhs worth of transactions.

Other increases from actively traded stocks were RAKPROP (1.5%), DANA (0.6%), GCEM (0.25%).

ETISALAT price was unchanged but had the highest level of trading activity by value with 34m dhs worth changing hands - well above the 7m dhs worth from DANA Gas (which is often the highest). Possibly the activity today is related to their hopeful prospects in Egypt.

ADIB catching up on the trading suspension yesterday with 22m dhs worth today but a fall of 1.3% to 56.55. The only news from yesterday's board meeting was consideration of a Sukuk deal.

FGB also had another hectic day with a fall of 1.6% to 12.05 from 8.7m dhs worth. The short term traders taking a quick profit from the previous couple of days perhaps.

Big falls from thin trading for FOODCO down 9.9% to 5.41, and GMPC (Gulf Medical Projects Company - rarely traded) down 10% to 4.88.

Other falls from ADCB (0.6%), TAQA (1.2%), SOROUH (0.8%), ALDAR (0.5%). AABAR share price was unchanged from yesterday.

Discuss and view previous reports at Dubai Share Talk discussion for December 2006.

UAE shares Mon 11 Dec 06

UAE Market report for Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Market

Monday 11 December 2006

Not the most encouraging day on DFM (down 1.5% to 4176 points) or ADSM (down 0.09% to 3040 - just two points down from yesterday) today. And yet Saudi's Tadawul index (TASI) is up by 1.5% today so far. It seems the UAE and Saudi markets are moving in contrary directions these days. Still, after a couple of good days on DFM, it's no surprise there's a bit of a pull back. Volumes are down a bit which is a good sign too.

Dubai Financial Market

It was down, down and down the whole day, from 4237 points at the start to 4160 by the close. Volumes where reduced by 50% from yesterday with 541m dhs worth of trading and 4522 deals.

Only three thinly traded shares showed a gain. CBD up 1.4% with only 3 trades, NBD up 0.6% to 9.00 and WARE up 1.5% to 20.30, the latter two stocks with only 6 deals going through although the volumes were reasonable for such illiquid stocks.

Stocks falling included the rest with the worst falls from MAZAYA with a 5.3% drop to 7.10 but only 1 trade (and the first one this month) and GGICO with a hearty 4.5% dip to 8.40. Ominously for them though, volumes were higher than normal, and this was after yesterday's 7.2% fall.

The big names all fell with the worst of them being EMAAR down 2.8% to 12.25 (and 300m dhs worth of trades), AMLAK down 3% to 5.24, ARMX down 2.5% to 2.78, TABREED down 2.4% to 2.43, and TAMWEEL down 2.5% to 4.36. Other falls were less than 2%. SHUAA's CEO was in the press defending their record after a less than complimentary report appeared in this month's Trend Magazine, but still their shares dropped 2.6% today to 4.87. Only 8 deals went through though - unusually low for Shuaa Capital.

Abu Dhabi Securities Market

ADSM also drifted down but only very slightly. Volumes of 99m dhs worth from 1262 trades were slightly lower than yesterday but still respectable enough. That may not be correct. ADSM website is showing total volume of 89m dhs and 1096 trades.

Biggest rise was a splendid 10% from AWNIC (Al Wathba Insurance) to 6.60 but from a single small trade of 1000 shares. Other rises from ADCB marginally up by 1 fil to 5.42. About time they headed in that direction though. ETISALAT up by only 5 fils to 17.75, FH with only 3 trades had a 3.5% rise to 8.62, FGB again relatively busy with 5.5m dhs worth traded and a small rise of 0.8% to 12.20 - share buyback in progress? NBAD also surpisingly active with 7.2m dhs worth traded and a slight increase of 0.8% to 19.15. QCEM not quite so busy with just one trade and a 3.5% increase.

Our favorite chicken stock, RAPCO (RAK Poultry) saw some action today. A magnificant three deals exchanged with a 4.7% jump to 4.50. Last time they traded was over two months ago at the end of September 2006.

The more active shares mostly took a fall today. SOROUH down 2.3% to 2.55 with higher than normal volume of 19m dhs worth. TAQA down 1.2%, RAKPROP down 1.4% to 1.40, DANA gas the busiest with 17.6m dhs of trading and a single fil reduction to 1.63. AABAR down 2.2% to 2.23 and ALDAR down 0.5% to 4.21. ADIB halted it's climb with a slight pullback and reduced volumes to close at 57.30, down 0.2%. Some mutterings about ADIB allowing foreign ownership may explain the big volumes recently but no concrete news seen so far.

The biggest fall was from ASMAK (International Fish Farms) which flopped 8.3% from two trades to close at 3.64. EIC (Emirates Insurance Company) also with a biggish hit of 4.8% from two trades to close at 12.95.

end

UAE stocks Sun 10 Dec 2006

UAE Market report for Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Market

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Sunday 10 December 2006

A wobbly day today with DFM all over the place and finally closing down by only 0.05% to 4237 points. ADSM performed a little better with an increase of 0.8% to close at 3042 points. Saudi's Tadawul index (TASI) was down 1% yesterday and is down another 1.5% to 7700 points so far today (and still trading).

Dubai Financial Market (DFM)

Total volume traded on DFM was just over 1 billion dhs worth from 6428 trades. The index started off the day at 4266 points and dropped to 4206 fairly quickly, it then wobbled about for the rest of the day and closed at 4237 points with only 3 stocks marginally up (DIC, EMAAR, SHUAA), 1 stayed flat (EBI) and 12 stocks fell.

EMAAR traded 599m dhs worth, more than half the total DFM volume, with the largest rise of the day - up 1.2% to 12.60. DIC was up a single fil to 4.51 and SHUAA also up by a fil to 5.00. EBI remained unchanged at 12.55 with only 4 trades going through.

GGICO got the largest thumping with a 7.2% fall to 8.80 but on a single small trade. AMAN (Dubai Islamic Insurance) a little busier with 26 trades and a fall of 2.4% to 22.15. The rest of the usual basket of liquid stocks only fell 1% or less.

GFH won a best bank award from Arabian Business and the market responded in a completely nonplussed fashion - not a single trade today. Same with WARE (Agility - PWC Logistics) despite news of more contracts possibly being cancelled, share buybacks, and ownership of Geologistics.

Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM)

ADSM went the opposite way to DFM at the beginning of trading with a quick rise. It then levelled off for the rest of the session to close at 3042 with 1516 trades and decent volume of 110m dhs worth - a third of that coming from trading in DANA and ADIB (Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank). 21 stocks were up, 12 were down and 3 unchanged.

Biggest increase from FCI (Fujairah Cement Industries), up 9.9% to 4.34 - a single trade. ADNH up 4.7% (only 5 trades) and FOODCO up 4.5% (a single trade). BILDCO, BOS, ETISALAT, and RAKWCT all up 2-3%. The others rising 0-2%. Worst falls from CBI - down 10% to 3.35 (only 2 trades), and NMDC down 9.4% to 4.51 from one trade. DRIVE fell 2.9%, ADSB down 2% and the others falling less than 2%.

ADIB rose only 0.8% to 57.40 but 23m dhs worth of trading made it the highest by volume today. DANA not far behind with 20m dhs worth and a small rise of 0.6% (only 1 fil) to 1.64.

A busy day for BILDCO with higher than normal volumes. Share price peaked at 4.23 during they day before falling back to 4.08 by the close of trading and 5.2m dhs worth being traded. Perhaps a few more buybacks going on for BILDCO? FGB also unusually popular with 7.4m dhs worth of trading but a fall of 0.4% to 12.05. FGB was another company that were talking about buying back their shares.

Discuss and view previous reports at Dubai Share Talk discussion for December 2006.

UAE stocks Thu 07 Dec 2006

Both ADSM and DFM were looking good today with a 1.4% rise in the ADSM index on much higher volumes than usual, and a 2.1% rise in the DFM index to 4239 points. The TASI (Saudi's Tadawul index) was closed today as usual, but yesterday ended up down 1.2% to 7906 points.

Dubai Financial Market (DFM)

Total volume traded on DFM was 1.24 bn dhs from 7495 trades. Increasing volumes on a rising market is a positive indication but may well reflect investors preparing for the DFM IPO funds being returned next week - we may see a drop again then.

Biggest rises from ARIG (7.4% from only 2 trades) and a big jump of 12.9% from GGICO to 9.48 - only 5 trades though. Contrast that with 1640 deals in EMAAR shares which rose a healthy 3.8% to 12.45 and 521m dhs worth of trading. TAMWEEL has the second highest volume of 190m dhs worth of trading with a 1.1% rise to 4.51, no doubt TAMWEEL's proposed 20% dividend getting the punters enthused. DIB did well with a 3.4% increase to 8.30 - perhaps investors decided that DIB receiving the UAE Bank of the Year award was worth something after all. UPP also had a good 2.3% rise to 3.05. Most other stocks rose 0-1%.

Only two companies saw a fall in their share price on DFM today. WARE (Public Warehousing PWC) with a 9.5% plunge to 20.00 on only 5 trades but all of them for almost 1 million shares each and all going through at about 12:40 pm. Which made them the third highest traded share by value today - and usually they're near the bottom of the list. Maybe something to do with WARE buying back their shares? The other loser was AMAN which also had a relatively busy day for them with 74 trades and a drop of 1.7% to 22.70.

Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM)

ADSM start of trading was delayed an hour due to a systems upgrade - session was from 1100-1400 instead of the usual 1000-1300. Despite this inconvenience, volume of trading on ADSM was up to a whopping 236m dhs worth - almost half of that from trading in ADIB shares. Nothing obvious to explain why although there was news today that HSBC Amanah would be the lead arranger in the AED 18 billion Trust Certificate Issuance Program initiated by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. Share price was up by 1.4% to 56.95 dhs. DANA Gas was the other heavily traded share, up by 3.2% to 1.63 and 32m dhs worth.

Biggest rises from CBI (9.4%), FH (9.3%) and NMDC (6.6%) with 1, 13 and trades respectively. Other significant movements up from AABAR up 2.7% to 2.31, BILDCO up 4.8% to 3.97 - high volume of 6.6m dhs worth but no news seen, and GCEM up 3% to 4.15 with only 14 trades but over a million shares traded. Other rises of 0-2%.

Only 7 shares fell with the worst drops of 4.2% from UCC and 3% from AKIC. Other falls from INVESTB (1.9%), SOROUH (1.9%), AGTHIA (1.5%), FCI (1.3%), ALDAR (0.2%).

UAE markets Wed 06 Dec 06

Another good day at DFM today with a 1.8% increase and a significant improvement in volumes to just over a billion dhs worth of trading. ADSM was also up 1.4% while the Tadawul index (TASI) in Saudi went the opposite way - down 1.2% so far today to 7900 points and 10 billion riyals of trading (still an hour or so of trading left).

Dubai Financial Market (DFM)

DFM index opened at 4076 and climbed quickly to 4138 before pulling back a little. It then climbed further to 4159 by mid session and wobbled around there for the rest of the day before a final small dip and a rise back to 4152 points. Only one share, or bond rather, fell - that was the Emirates Airlines EK-2013 which had a single trade of 1000 units at 99.65 dhs, down 0.4% from the last trade - which was probably several months ago. Oddly though, the DFM marketwatch screen shows the total value of the trade as 99 million dhs rather than 99 thousand. That might have been a nasty surprise for the purchaser (and a pleasant one for the seller).

It's a happy day when everything is going up (I wouldn't say we're out of the woods yet, we've seen a mini-recovery more than once in the past couple of months). A solid 4.7% rise from TAMWEEL to 4.46 and 240m dhs worth of trading - not far behind EMAAR with 322m dhs worth of trades and a 3% rise to 12.00. No obvious specific news to explain the TAMWEEL rise - maybe just punters getting excited about all the talk of the real estate sector in Dubai continuing to grow. That may yet prove to be a false hope...

AMLAK was also up by 2.5% to 5.38, SHUAA a pleasing 2.9% to 4.94 and the rest of the traded shares up by 0-2%. EBI perhaps deserves a mention with their 4.1% pop but there were only three trades went through.

Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM)

ADSM saw only six stocks dropping with the worst ones DRIVE (8.1%) and FCI (7%). TAQA fell 2.3% and still no news about what sparked the big jump yesterday. Volumes for TAQA were down to 2.4m dhs worth - less than a tenth of what was traded yesterday. ADCB, NCTH, and RAKBANK were also down 0-2%. ADCB a bit of a worry. Although the drop was only 1.5%, the volume of trading at 9.3m dhs worth was much higher than normal. Yesterday there was news of a purchase of some payment processing software by ADCB. I'd be surprised if this drop in price was a reaction to that.

TKFL was the winner today with a 7% increase. BOS up 5.3%, NBAD up 4.4% and JULPHAR up 4%. Few trades amongst this lot though - about 25 deals all together. All the more liquid stocks (except for TAQA) were up only 0-2% with RAKPROP and ETISALAT the best of them with a rise of just over 2%.

DANA and ADIB were back at the top of the list by volume traded with 17m and 16m dhs worth respectively, ADIB up 3.6% to 56.15 and DANA up 1.3% to 1.58.

Discuss and view previous reports at Dubai Share Talk discussion for December 2006.

DFM -2%, ADSM -1.3% Wed 01 Nov 2006

Another day in the dumps for DFM and ADSM. DFM down another 2% today to close at 408 - that 400 level is getting very close, and we thought we'd seen the last of it a few months ago. Once again, almost 1 bn dhs worth of shares were traded. Are there really so many people wanting to pull out so much cash for the DFM IPO coming up? ADSM also reasonable volume at almost 90m dhs to close at 3354, down 1.3%.

More in the dubaisharetalk forum

RAKNIC limit up, EMAAR 02 Oct 06

EMAAR shares up 2% on a solid AED 1 billion dhs worth. RAKNIC (Ras Al Khaimah National Insurance Company) shares going limit up (10%) on small trades. Curious. October market discussion in DubaiShareTalk forum.

Big volume trading 02 Sep 2006

Over 2.5 billion dhs worth of trading on Dubai Financial Market. A big day. Maybe too big, can the market handle that volume level after falling the past few months? September UAE market reports in Dubai Share Talk...

DFM below 400 - 03 Aug 2006

Dubai Financial Market dropped below 400 points. Worrying. Analysts forecast Emaar to be up to 16 or 17 dhs per share by the end of the year. August DFM and ADSM news on Dubai Share Talk

UAE sharemarkets July 2006

The Abu Dhabi and Dubai stockmarkets continue to drift along. See the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock markets July 2006 discussion for more.

UAE markets June 2006

See the June 2006 DFM and ADSM stockmarket performance topic. A mixed month with some good and some bad days but overall not clear where it's going.

Fingers are burning...

Whilst it's sad to read the tales of hardship and heartbreak from people who've suffered losses in the recent falls in the regional stockmarkets, it's even sadder to realise how few of them have learnt from their mistakes. For example articles like this from Reuters ("Saudi stock debacle sparks rare public debate") - full of stories of people who miss the point completely and are looking for someone to point their burnt fingers at. They need to point at themselves otherwise they'll just get stung again in the next 'big thing'.

"In other countries, the state and financial institutions join efforts in times of crises. Why didn't banks give small investors a six-month reprieve on their debts?

"They can afford to do it, they make billions of riyals in profits," said Dahlan.

Well, that's capitalism. If you remove incentives for companies to make money, they'll go somewhere else to make money. And if banks follow Dahlan's suggestion, the shareholders will sell their shares and/or vote out the BOD, and share prices will drop even more.

Anyone buying shares is in no position to criticise these banks - after all, they weren't buying shares out of altruistic motives. Why should they expect anyone else to have a different attitude?

Day Traders Warned!

So here's an interesting story from the Gulf News on Wednesday. Harsh words indeed from the ESCA (Emirates Securities and Commodities Association - the market regulator for DFM and ADSM, commonly referred to as SCA).

Abu Dhabi: A top government official has issued a serious warning to day traders against speculative trading in the UAE stock markets. "Many are practising leveraging, and it seems that everyone is contributing to this problem, and I suggest that brokerage houses assign internal supervisors to ensure that its brokers do not get involved in day-trading activities," Ebrahim Zaabi, Director of Brokers supervision at Esca, told the brokers yesterday.

Not before time I would say, actually it's probably about 12 months overdue at least. There is a difference between day-trading and leveraging which may not be clear from the passage I quoted. It is fair to say that many day-traders do use leveraging. Now there were some punishments listed but will they get that far is an important question.

Further on in the article ...

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) hosted a meeting for representatives of the 74 registered brokers in the UAE, as well as representatives of Esca, DFM, and ADSM, to discuss the recent market crashes and the degree brokerage firms are abiding by the codes of ethics of the profession.

It all sounds very friendly and chummy doesn't it?

The recommendations included as well the suggestion of establishing a brokers' association, and issuing a booklet outlining rules and codes of the profession, in addition to limiting the licensing of new brokerage firms or upgrading the requirements.

Good-oh. Well, if the brokerage firms are a problem then good that it's being dealt with. I get a sense from reading the article that there may be some brokers who have set themselves up not necessarily to provide a service, but trade directly on the market themselves.

Surely it's the investors who have to take responsibility for their investment decisions? It may sound harsh but sooner or later the market will sort itself out along with investors/brokers on shaky ground, irrespective of however many meetings and serious warnings there are. As usual though, we'll never learn anyway and all pile in once the markets get all excited again...

Share Buybacks

Big news today for investors was the announcement on share buybacks. Previously companies could only buy them back if the price went below par (or book*) value. So what does that mean and why is it good news? ( DubaiShareTalk topic )

UAE lifts some curbs on share buybacks

Reuters 16 May 2006 Dubai:

The UAE Cabinet has removed some curbs on share buybacks, hoping to encourage companies to add some support to tumbling stock markets.

The official WAM news agency said yesterday the new rules would allow companies to purchase up to 10 per cent of their own stock, but gave few details.

Par value is usually the original price shares are sold for when a company allows the public to buy them (called an IPO - Initial Public Offering). For example, DANA Gas last year went public and their shares were 1 dh each. You could fill in forms at one of several banks, give them money to give to the company, and after a few weeks get shares in your name for 1 dh each. Then wait a bit longer until DANA shares start trading on the stockmarket (ADSM - Abu Dhabi Securities Market as it happens) and you can sell them again (hopefully for a higher price). Or buy more shares from other shareholders if you prefer to increase your holding.

Currently DANA Gas shares are a little over 2 dhs each. They were almost 6 dhs a few months ago. Note that when you buy and sell shares, you're buying from other people or selling to other people. The company is no longer involved in the trading - they already got their money from the IPO.

Usually in the long term, if a company is making money, share prices go up. But sometimes, share prices go down to a level that the company thinks is below what they should be worth. The company may then consider buying the shares on the market especially if the company has a lot of cash not being used. Then, they cancel the shares (or should do). That means that the remaining shareholders - you and I - now own a bigger part of the company than previously even though we still have the same number of shares. For example...

SHUSMA PJSC (not a real company) has issued 100 shares at 1 dh each. You own 25 of them which means you own 25% of the company. SHUSMA has 500 dhs in the bank and the shares are trading at 5 dhs each which SHUSMA thinks is very low. So they decide to buy back 50 shares with half of their money in the bank and cancel them. That means there are only 50 shares outstanding. You still own 25 of them at 5 dhs each but 25 out of 50 shares is now 50% of the company that you own.

Obviously the reality is not quite as dramatic but that's the idea. Note that often a share price will go up a bit if a company does a buyback - for example FGB (First Gulf Bank) shares last week when they annouced they'd buyback 10%.

But back to the significance of the law on buybacks. Some companies shares trading on ADSM and DFM are thought to be good value at present market prices and many of these companies have cash in the bank. So they'd like to buy their own shares back but were prevented because the law said they could only do that if the share price went below par value. This will change after today's announcement (not that the market reacted particularly well - yesterday DFM was down 7%, today was a bit mixed but DFM closed up very slightly at 0.4%).

FGB is a good example here. Currently their price is about 14-15 dhs but par value is 1 dh. Highly unlikely they would ever get to par value. Now with the law change, FGB can buy their own shares and the net result is an increase in shareholder value. We hope.

You may have heard of MSFT - Microsoft? They have been spending $$$ on share buybacks (I think several $billion in the past year).

*Originally I thought I read Par Value which is what I've based the above explanation on. The Reuters report today refers to Book Value. The difference being that total Par Value should reflect the value of the company when it is publicly listed for the first time (not always the case) and Book Value is what each company's share is worth now according to the accountants (which is usually much lower than the actual market price of a share). Eg today: FGB share price is 14 dhs, Par Value is 1 dh, and Book Value is about 7 dhs.

The explanation I gave above is roughly ok but I'll modify it if/when I confirm that the Reuters version is correct.

ShareWadi blog begins...

Wondering a bit what this could be good for - help me out here...

• Random news on UAE markets? But there's a website and discussion forum for that already.
• My own thoughts? How boring for other readers surely?
• My own investment adventures? Maybe, but are you really interested in how much I'm losing :(?
• What if I elaborate on something in the news in more detail for those new to the casino er I mean financial markets?

Your comments would be welcomed :) ...

DFM & ADSM December 2005

Not a pleasant month on the DFM and ADSM share markets. Some big drops left investors rattled. See DFM and ADSM stocks December 2005 topic for more discussion (short topic).

UAE markets November 2005

A couple of days of declines unnerving investors. See the UAE markets November 2005 topic for (not much) more.