Dubai’s Arabtec shares drop after Egypt project speculation

Dubai’s bourse was driven down on Sunday to its lowest benchmark level since early April, closing at 4,050 points, as the index fell 1.7 percent, after speculations on the drop of Egyptian megaproject, local media reported.

Dubai’s Arabtec dropped 3.3 percent, after Egyptian newspaper Al Mal cited an anonymous official in Egypt’s ministry of housing saying that a planned high-profile deal between the firm and the Cairo government to build 1 million housing units in Egypt had fallen through.

Neither the Egyptian government nor Arabtec were available for immediate comment to Reuters on the project, whose value was estimated at $36.70 billion.

Other Dubai property developers such as Damac Properties and Emaar Properties also saw a drop by 3.45 percent and 1.46 percent respectively.

“Arabtec fell because of end of talks with Egypt and the other stocks were due to fall anyway because the first quarter results and people are looking forward to the holiday season ahead,” Sanyalaksna Manibhandu from the National Bank of Abu Dhabi Securities told Gulf News.

Property stocks also saw a fall in Abu Dhabi including Aldar Properties and Eshraq Properties, forcing the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index down by 0.73 percent.

(With Reuters)