Investing.com – United Arab Emirates equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Services and Finance & Investment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Dubai, the DFM General declined 0.30%, while the ADX General index lost 2.91%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the DFM General were ARAMEX PJSC (DU:ARMX), which rose 2.80% or 0.150 points to trade at 5.500 at the close. Mashreqbank PSC (DU:MASB) added 2.67% or 2.00 points to end at 77.00 and Damac Properties Dubai Co PSC (DU:DAMAC) was up 2.12% or 0.060 points to 2.890 in late trade.
Biggest losers included DXB Entertainments (P.J.S.C.) (DU:DXBE), which lost 4.72% or 0.050 points to trade at 1.010 in late trade. SHUAA Capital PSC (DU:SHUA) declined 4.12% or 0.070 points to end at 1.630 and Takaful House (DU:DTKF) shed 4.10% or 0.050 points to 1.170.
The top performers on the ADX General were United Arab Bk (AD:UAB) which rose 3.24% to 1.910, Rak Cement Co (AD:RKCC) which was up 1.23% to settle at 0.820 and Aldar Properti (AD:ALDR) which gained 0.85% to close at 2.370.
The worst performers were First Gulf Bk (AD:FGB) which was down 8.70% to 12.60 in late trade, Abu Dhabi National for Building Materials Co PJSC (AD:BILD) which lost 8.20% to settle at 0.560 and Natl Bk Of Ad (AD:NBAD) which was down 4.21% to 10.25 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 24 to 8 and 4 ended unchanged; on the Abu Dhabi, 14 fell and 4 advanced, while 8 ended unchanged on the Dubai Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was down 2.45% or 1.23 to $49.05 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May fell 2.33% or 1.24 to hit $51.87 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.38% or 4.55 to trade at $1204.85 a troy ounce.
USD/AED was unchanged 0.00% to 3.6729, while EUR/AED rose 0.20% to 3.8788.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 102.08.