Dubai Index Declines on Concern Bank Earnings Will Disappoint

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Dubai’s index dropped to the lowest level in more than a month, led by Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC and Emaar Properties PJSC, on concern lenders will report lower full-year earnings.

Dubai Islamic Bank, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest bank complying with Muslim banking rules, and Emaar, the U.A.E.’s biggest developer, dropped to their lowest since December. The DFM General Index fell as much as 1.7 percent to the lowest since Dec. 13 and was down 1.4 percent to 1,653.01 at 1:16 p.m. in Dubai. Bahrain’s index added 1 percent, headed for the highest close since November.

“Negative expectations” for banking results are hurting the market, said Yazan Abdeen, a fund manager at ING Investment Management (Dubai) Ltd. “With the current regional provisioning trend, it is imminent that UAE banks will be hard-hit.”