Equities markets in the UAE continued their losing streak yesterday, closing lower for the third consecutive session as losses in banking and telecommunications weighed heavily.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index ended 0.1 per cent lower at 1,744.40. Emirates NBD, the largest lender by assets in the country, dipped 2 per cent.
Meanwhile, du, the country's second largest telecoms operator, continued to decline, ending trade down 4.8 per cent after the company announced on Monday it was seeking shareholder approval to raise Dh1 billion by issuing new shares.
Emaar Properties' 1.6 per cent rise yesterday helped the index to trim its losses. "It's mainly losses in Emirates NBD and du that have eroded gains earlier in the day," said Hassan Awan, an associate with the asset management division of The National Investors in Abu Dhabi. Mr Awan added that volumes remained depressed and the market seemed to be waiting for the earnings season to unfold further.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index retreated 0.2 per cent to 2,805.35. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and First Gulf Bank declined 3.1 and 2.1 per cent, respectively, while Union National Bank retreated 2.8 per cent.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank bucked the trend, rising 1.3 per cent, while Etisalat ended up 1 per cent.
Elsewhere in the region, markets closed mixed after heavy selling in the last two sessions.
The Saudi Tadawul All Share Index declined the most, down 2 per cent, followed by Kuwait, which dropped 1.4 per cent.
Bahrain's shares ended 0.9 per cent lower. The main indexes in Qatar and Muscat rose 0.7 and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
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Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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