Abu Dhabi real estate shares down on depressed property prices

Real estate shares and troubled Dana Gas weighed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange on Sunday.

The shares of Dana Gas dropped 4.4 percent in very high volume after the board’s Thursday meeting showed the company was still under “severe” cash constraint from the unearned receivables from Egypt.

In February, Dana Gas said the amount owed by Egypt was $265 million as of Dec. 31, 2016. “It seems the troubles of the gas explorer are not going to go away any time soon, and continued delayed payments and unstable dynamics in the energy sector will keep investors away from this stock for now,

” said a Dubai-based equities portfolio manager. Dana’s board also considered the restructuring of its Islamic bond.

Shares of real estate developers, which were the main drag on the benchmark at the end of last week, continued to weigh on the index as investors cashed out on disappointment over the softening of property prices in the emirate in the first quarter. Average sales prices of apartments fell 1 percent and villa prices dropped 9 percent in the three months ending March 31 compared with the last quarter of 2016, according to a report by property consultants Chestertons.

Shares of the largest listed developer Aldar Properties fell 2.7 percent and are now down 5.3 percent since last Sunday. The index fell 0.6 percent. Saudi Arabia’s banking stocks were the main drag on the Tadawul All Share Index on Sunday. The index dropped by 1 percent.

Elsewhere, shares of National Bank of Kuwait rose 1.5 percent after reporting an 8.1 percent rise in first- quarter net profit to 85.4 million dinars ($280.78 million), slightly above two analysts’ estimates of 83.3 million dinars and 84 million dinars.

The bank attributed the rise in net profit to higher net interest income and income from Islamic financing as a result of strong growth in business volumes.

The index on which it trades, however, declined 0.6 percent. Kuwait Projects Company dropped 3.5 percent. Dubai’s index extended Thursday’s 0.9 percent decline and dropped 1.6 percent, its largest single-day decline since Feb. 13, as 32 shares retreated and only two rose. Shares of construction-related companies slumped; Arabtec, the most traded share of the day, sank 9.7 percent while shares of Drake & Scull retreated 7.3 percent.

Most foreign fund managers were absent from the session on Sunday because of the Easter holiday. Egypt’s bourse was closed for Easter Sunday.