Shares in Dubai fell to their lowest level for the year yesterday, with declines by Emaar Properties and Arabtec Holding sparking a wider sell-off of blue chip names.
Most other indexes across the Arabian Gulf ended lower, led by Qatar, with Saudi stocks bucking the trend.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index ended the day down 1.5 per cent at 3,502.36, a new low for 2017.
Emaar shares fell 3.8 per cent to an eight-month low of Dh7.36, after the property developer proposed a dividend of 15 fils per share for last year, unchanged from 2015.
Shares in Arabtec fell 2.1 per cent to 91.4 fils, erasing some of the previous session’s gains, with DXB Entertainments and Air Arabia also finishing lower. Aramex led a handful of gainers, closing up 2.7 per cent at Dh5.
The key share index in Abu Dhabi ended the day down about 0.3 per cent at 4,591.52, with index heavyweight Etisalat closing 1.1 per cent lower.
Investbank, whose shares had risen about 20 per cent since the start of the month, fell 4 per cent to Dh2.40.
FGB and ADCB led gainers, rising 0.7 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.
Shares in Qatar were dragged lower by Doha Bank and Qatar Electricity & Water, both of which went ex-dividend. The Qatar Exchange index finished 1.9 per cent lower at 10,416.89.
In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul finished 0.2 per cent higher at 6,993.13, bolstered by gains at Sabic and Alinma Bank.
Meanwhile, Brent crude rose marginally to US$56.13 per barrel yesterday, with investors awaiting upcoming US petroleum inventory data and comments from top oil officials gathered in Houston for the CeraWeek conference.

Source: The National