Weekend Economists Examine (E)sc(h)atology January 24-26, 2014

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69. Dubai Stocks Lead Mideast Drop on Global Rout; Abu Dhabi Falls

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-26/dubai-shares-drop-most-in-month-on-global-slump-abu-dhabi-falls.html

Dubai’s benchmark stock index retreated the most in more than two months, joining a global equities selloff. Abu Dhabi’s gauge suffered the biggest decline in almost five months.

The DFM General Index (DFMGI) dropped 2.2 percent, the most since Nov. 11, to 3,733.70, at the close in the emirate. The measure, which rose 3.6 percent on Jan. 23, has still more than doubled in the past 12 months. Emaar Properties PJSC (EMAAR), the emirate’s biggest real-estate developer, had the biggest decline in more than two weeks and Dubai Islamic Bank lost 2.6 percent. Abu Dhabi’s gauge slid 1.8 percent, the most since Sept. 5, as the United Arab Emirates’ government said the country’s president is recovering from a stroke.

Today’s declines follow a broader retreat in world markets last week, when China spurred investor concern that global growth will slow. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 2.3 percent last week, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index posted the largest weekly slump since June 2012.

“Investors here are following this global weakness,” Montasser Khelifi, a Dubai-based senior manager for global markets at Quantum Investment Bank Ltd., said by phone. The president’s stroke may have “a limited effect on the market,” he said.