Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADSM) indices declined 1.3% each last week, amid foreign sales and national buying.
Analysts said that the anticipation and escalation of trade war between the United States and China affected the performance of local financial markets during the week's trading, pointing out that there are major concerns affecting the UAE market and the Gulf markets in general, most notably geopolitical concerns.
Dubai market
In detail, Dubai Financial Market index declined 1.3% to close at 2761.02 points last week.
Most of the sector indices witnessed a stable performance, except for the decline of four sectors, the biggest decline was the real estate sector index which fell by 3.52%, and the insurance sector index which fell by 1.45%.
Nationals and foreigners were net buyers of AED 4.7 million and AED 7.7 million respectively, with a buy / sell difference of AED 6.831 million and AED 5.548 million respectively.
Abu Dhabi Market
The Abu Dhabi Securities Market Index also fell 1.3%, closing at 5027.96 points. Sectors' indices witnessed a decline, with the exception of consumer goods which rose 0.164%. The main decliners were Real Estate which fell by 5.6%, Services by 4%, and Investment & Financial Services by 1.99%.
Arab, GCC and nationals were net buyers of AED 921.85 thousand, AED 25.2 million and AED 21.9 million respectively, while foreigners netted ADX sellers by AED 48.1 million.
4 concerns
There are four major concerns affecting the UAE and Gulf markets. Oil prices stabilized after two turbulent weeks when Saudi Arabia reassured oil importers of supply levels in the kingdom.
He pointed out that the third of these concerns, in the environment of low interest rates, pointing out that investors will monitor the performance of the banking sector and its results in the coming weeks, to determine the direction of the impact of rate cuts on the sector.
He added that the fourth concern is the huge offerings in some countries in the region, which may affect the local markets.
calm
Talal Touqan, head of investment at BH Mubasher Financial Services, said there was a calm in the past week.
He added that the end of last week, witnessed fears of the transition of the US-China trade war to the investment field, and the movement of funds between the two sides, and this impact in emerging markets, noting that in the domestic markets there was pressure led to sales by foreigners.
Toukan stressed that the anticipation will continue to dominate the local market until companies announce the performance of the third quarter of this year.