A profit-taking bout dragged down Dubai’s bourse in early trade on Monday despite positive first first-quarter earnings posted by the emirate’s biggest listed developer, Emaar Properties.
Dubai’s index fell 1.0 per cent to 4,090 points and Emaar slipped 0.6 per cent. The company had reported a better-than-expected 7 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit late on Sunday.
Having surged 20 per cent last month, the Dubai benchmark failed to break through major technical resistance at its 200-day average, now at 4,241 points, on Thursday and Sunday, prompting investors to book profits. It has strong technical support around 4,000 points, where it peaked repeatedly between December and February.
Other Gulf markets were narrowly mixed after Brent crude dipped towards $66 a barrel on Monday on weak Chinese economic data and near-record supplies from OPEC producers.
Abu Dhabi was flat, Oman inched up 0.05 per cent and Qatar’s bourse climbed 0.2 per cent.
Kuwait’s index slipped 0.2 per cent and Burgan Bank fell 1.1 per cent after reporting a 2 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit to 17.54 million dinars ($58.2 million). Three analysts polled by Reuters had predicted, on average, a net profit of 19.94 million dinars for the quarter.