UAE stocks remained some of the year’s star global performers last month, shrugging off turmoil hurting other developing markets.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index climbed by 25.2 per cent in the first two months of the year after finishing as the world’s second-best performing index last year. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index rose 15.6 per cent over the same period.
In contrast, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index sagged 3.6 per cent.
In February alone, Dubai rose 11.9 per cent, Abu Dhabi gained 6.1 per cent and the MSCI Emerging Markets was up 3.1 per cent.
Analysts are trying to gauge whether the UAE markets’ current uptrend can be sustained.
A lot depends on how investors respond to the UAE’s reclassification to emerging market status by the index provider MSCI in May, said Christian Gattiker-Ericsson, the chief strategist and head of research at the private bank Julius Baer.
“This is a momentum trade and only after May will we be able see if this is getting into silly dimensions – it is possible,” he said. “This will be the first upgrade of frontier to emerging market status, so it means all the assets will be sold by frontier market trackers and will be bought by emerging market index trackers, and we can’t really tell the net effect of that. Depending on how strong that is it might lead to a completely overblown dimension at some stage.”
Last week BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, said that in January it had substantially cut its UAE holdings in one of its funds, citing concern about the level of speculation in the market.
Positive sentiment has continued to surround UAE markets, buoyed by a strengthening economy and robust corporate earnings.
In contrast, other developing markets such as Turkey, Ukraine and Brazil have been buffeted by turmoil that has taken a toll on stocks and domestic currencies.
“We still see plenty of upside in UAE names,” said Jaap Meijer, the executive director of equity research at Arqaam Capital in Dubai. “We have started just to price in a normalisation. The new growth phase is not priced in, nor the potential write-backs of previously established loan loss provisions.”
Other regional markets have also remained relatively unscathed by the turmoil in emerging markets. Six of the top performing indices in the year to date were from the Middle East and North Africa, according to Emirates NBD.
Ali El Adou, the senior vice president of asset management at The National Investor, said there may be greater value for investors in other markets such as Qatar and Kuwait.
“In the short term I expect a correction in the UAE market, as valuations are becoming a bit expensive. In addition, we have seen a heavy retail presence lately in the market. This money has been focusing on tier-two names, especially in the real estate sector, for which I believe their valuations cannot be justified.”
tarnold@thenational.ae
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2018 Peugeot 5008
Price, base / as tested: Dh99,900 / Dh134,900
Engine: 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 165hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 240Nm @ 1,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.8L / 100km
Reading List
Practitioners of mindful eating recommend the following books to get you started:
Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr Lilian Cheung
How to Eat by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Mindful Diet by Dr Ruth Wolever
Mindful Eating by Dr Jan Bays
How to Raise a Mindful Eaterby Maryann Jacobsen
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City 6
(D Silva 26', Sterling 38', 81', 87', De Bruyne 61', Jesus 68')
Watford 0
Man of the match: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
MATCH INFO
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, May 3
Live: On BeIN Sports HD
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Joe Root (captain), Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, Group B
Barcelona v Inter Milan
Camp Nou, Barcelona
Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
