Abu Dhabi Stocks Surge: $3.1 Billion Boost in Market Capitalization

UAE stock markets showed mixed performance yesterday, with Abu Dhabi continuing its three-day winning streak while Dubai's index fell. The standout was Multiply shares in Abu Dhabi, which dominated trading after announcing an acquisition deal the day before, helping boost Abu Dhabi's total market cap by 11.55 billion dirhams.

Foreign investors drove much of the activity across both markets, with non-Arab foreigners posting net purchases of over 95 million dirhams. This buying interest came as total trading reached 2.339 billion dirhams across 925 million shares through more than 43,000 transactions.

**Abu Dhabi Market Gains Ground**

Abu Dhabi's main index climbed 23.58 points or 0.23% to close at 10,144.05 points. Trading volume hit 1.528 billion dirhams, covering over 447 million shares in 28,054 deals.

Multiply shares stole the show, leading both value and volume charts. The stock traded 517.87 million dirhams worth of shares and moved 159.41 million shares by volume. The acquisition news pushed Multiply up 6.88% to 3.26 dirhams.

Other active stocks included Al Alamiya Holding at 86.63 million dirhams in value, followed by Aldar at 84.3 million dirhams. ADNOC Gas and Sharjah Islamic Bank also saw heavy trading volumes.

Foreign investors showed strong appetite for Abu Dhabi stocks, buying 457.88 million dirhams worth while selling 394.57 million dirhams. This created net foreign inflows of 63.31 million dirhams. But financial institutions went the other way, with net selling of about 48 million dirhams.

The buying pushed Abu Dhabi's total market capitalization to 3.134 trillion dirhams, up from 3.123 trillion dirhams the week before.

**Dubai Market Slides**

Dubai's index moved in the opposite direction, dropping 9.82 points or 0.16% to close at 6,029.27 points. Only 8 companies gained ground while 30 declined and 11 stayed flat.

Total trading reached 811.65 million dirhams across 477.58 million shares in 15,180 transactions. Emirates NBD bucked the trend with a solid 5% jump to 27.10 dirhams. Dubai Islamic Bank edged up 0.2% to 9.95 dirhams, and Emirates REEM Investment gained 3.87% to 2.95 dirhams.

Foreign investors also favored Dubai stocks, buying 414.96 million dirhams worth while selling 381.17 million dirhams. This resulted in net foreign purchases of 31.78 million dirhams. Financial institutions added small net purchases of 3.36 million dirhams.

Despite the index decline, Dubai's market cap held steady at 1.036 trillion dirhams, showing little change from the previous day.

The mixed performance reflects how individual corporate news can drive market sentiment, with Multiply's acquisition creating significant momentum in Abu Dhabi while Dubai faced broader selling pressure across most stocks.