Dubai’s Shares Decline Before Europe Crisis Meeting; Dubai Financial Drops - Bloomberg

Dubai’s shares declined for the third day this week ahead of a meeting of European leaders to discuss how to contain the region’s sovereign debt crisis.

Dubai Financial Market PJSC (DFM), the only Persian Gulf bourse to sell shares to the public, headed for the lowest close since Nov. 28. Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI), a construction company, lost as much as 1.2 percent. The benchmark DFM General Index (DFMGI) retreated 0.3 percent to 1,382.26 at 12:47 p.m. in the emirate, trimming this week’s gain to 0.2 percent. About 19 million shares traded in Dubai today compared with a six-month daily average of 70 million shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“All eyes are on what’s going to happen in the summit,” said Haissam Arabi, Dubai-based chief executive officer at Gulfmena Investments. “We are in a standstill, wait-and-see mode.”

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