UAE Stocks: Key factors to watch

Stocks in the United Arab Emirates tumbled soon after opening on Wednesday. The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) fell 1.28 percent, recording no gains in the first 15 minutes of trade. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) was lower by almost 1 percent.

On Tuesday, both Dubai and Abu Dhabi closed in the red with the DFM down 0.32 percent to 2,970 and the ADX slipping 0.43 percent to 4,089 points.

Argaam has compiled a list of local and global developments that are likely to impact UAE markets.

Brent crude continues its downward journey, sliding to $32.56 a barrel minutes before UAE markets opened on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) once again slipped below the $30-mark and was at $29.71 a barrel.

Standard and Poor’s Ratings Service on Tuesday cut ratings of 10 U.S. oil and gas exploration and production companies, citing the sharp drop in crude prices.

Asian markets mirrored oil declines on Wednesday, with China’s Shanghai Composite index falling 1.37 percent to 2,712 points. Japan’s Nikkei was down 3.46 percent to 17,137 points.

US markets closed lower on Tuesday, with Dow Jones down 1.8 percent and Nasdaq retreating 2.24 percent by market close.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Abu Dhabi’s “AA” long term foreign and local currency issuers default ratings (IDR), with a stable outlook on the emirate’s strong fiscal position.

Emirates NBD will release Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The UAE PMI declined to 52.7 in January, against 53.3 in December, pointing to the weakest improvement in business conditions since March 2012, the bank said.

Moody’s said Iran is fiscally and structurally ready to reemerge as a regional economic power as the lifting of economic sanctions will give the country access to over $150 billion in frozen assets.

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange

National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah reported a net profit of AED 1.4 billion for fiscal year 2015, down from AED 1.45 billion during the previous year. Total income increased 10.8 percent to AED 3.9 billion, while customer deposits jumped 12.9 percent to AED 27.8 billion.

Dubai Financial Market

Courier service provider Aramex reported a net profit of AED 311 million for fiscal year 2015, marking a two percent decline year-on-year, due to a one-time provision to account for its employees’ incentive scheme.

Union Properties confirmed that it is in talks with banks to secure AED 740 million to finance four residential and retail projects, including: the Oia Residence, Labor Camps, The Market Expansion and The Link.

Write to Matthew Watson at matthew.w@argaamplus.com and

Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com