UAE economic rebound fails to boost stock markets

Stock exchanges in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) posted losses on Sunday, despite the record high of non-oil business in nearly one and a half years in the country, according to bank Emirates NBD.

Dubai's biggest bank Emirates NBD said the UAE Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a composite indicator designed to give an accurate overview of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector, hit a 17-month high of 56.0 in February, up from 55.3 in January.

"The rise in the UAE PMI to the highest level since Sept. 2015 suggests that demand has strengthened, both domestically and abroad," Khatija Haque, the head of MENA Research at Emirates NBD, said.

However, the Dubai market index DFMGI and the ADXGI in the UAE's capital Abu Dhabi fell 1.13 percent and 0.68 percent respectively.

Among others, ADX-listed shares of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company closed unchanged at 0.47 dirhams (0.13 U.S. dollars).

The price of oil has been trading between 51 to 55 dollars per barrel since the start of the year, up from 27 dollars per barrel a year ago.

The UAE aims to reduce its economic dependence on the black gold from 29 percent to 19 within 10 years through further diversifying its economy.

UAE non-oil private companies expect the favourable economic scenario to continue, with 20 percent of them forecasting output growth in the year ahead, said Emirates NBD. Endit