Fresh earnings from RAK Properties provided little ignition for UAE markets though hopes are running high that earnings estimates from big banks reporting this week will spark new trading on local bourses.
Profits at the Ras Al Khaimah-based property developer fell 55 per cent to Dh30.3m, despite a tripling of revenues, ascosts of sales and impairments on investments spiked. The shares rose 3 per cent to Dh0.34.
But the broader markets were slow to rise from their torpor after the weekend, with the Dubai Financial Market flat at 1,365.05, while Abu Dhabi's measure remained unmoved at 2,444.81. Around two-thirds of UAE stocks had not moved after an hour's trading.
The sleepy start to the week in the UAE follows a dull day of trading in Saudi Arabia, which saw the Tadawul All-Share Index close unchanged.
Earnings due for release later today from the National Bank of Abu Dhabi may jump-start market activity.
The UAE's biggest bank by market capitalisation is expected to report profits of Dh965m, a 4.9 per cent increase on the same period a year earlier, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg News.
The shares are suspended today ahead of the bank's earnings release.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait's markets fell 0.1 per cent to 5,884.80, while Qatar's QE Index rose 0.4 per cent to 8,396.89. Oman's index rose 0.1 per cent to 5,537.52.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Score
Third Test, Day 1
New Zealand 229-7 (90 ov)
Pakistan
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat
Favourite book: ‘The Art of Learning’ by Josh Waitzkin
Favourite film: Marvel movies
Favourite parkour spot in Dubai: Residence towers in Jumeirah Beach Residence
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.