Wednesday, 16 January 2019

GCC Equities Review: #AbuDhabi ascends despite dramatic #Dubai downfall | ZAWYA MENA Edition

GCC Equities Review: Abu Dhabi ascends despite dramatic Dubai downfall | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Investing in two stock markets in the same country would not usually be considered a way of diversifying assets, but investors who had stakes in both of the United Arab Emirates’ main equities exchanges last year will have noted that that there was little in the way of correlation between them.

The Abu Dhabi market index finished the year 10.7 percent higher but, as the head of research at Menacorp, Issam Kassabieh, pointed out, its performance is swayed largely by its two biggest stocks - First Abu Dhabi Bank and Etisalat, which comprised almost 62 percent of the market's total capitalisation of almost $499 billion at close on January 15.

Although the value of Etisalat's stock fell slightly (around 3 percent) last year, First Abu Dhabi Bank was the market's third-best performer - its shares were up 34.9 percent, beaten only by insurance firm Watania (up 37.8 percent) and Abu Dhabi National Energy Co, Taqa, whose shares increased in value by 96.4 percent last year on the back of higher oil prices.

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