Foreign investors pull Dubai stocks to fresh low

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FOREIGNERS SELL: Non-Arab foreign investors were net sellers on Dubai's bourse last week. (Getty Images)

Non-Arab foreign investors were net sellers on Dubai's bourse for a third week last week while nationals of the United Arab Emirates snapped up undervalued stocks, official data showed on Saturday.

Foreigners from outside the Arab region offloaded shares worth 440.81 million dirhams ($120 million) in selling that pulled Dubai's index to a fresh 10-month low on Wednesday, Dubai Financial Market data showed.

Foreign institutional investors have led a sell-off in Gulf Arab markets this month. The Dubai measure fell 2.1 percent in the trading week ended Aug. 28 and is down more than 11 percent from the start of the month.

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UAE nationals were the only net buyers in the trading week, the data showed, buying 549.02 million dirhams worth of shares on a net-trading basis.

Emaar Properties, which surged more than 5 percent on Wednesday after hitting a fresh 40-month trough, is trading at less than 8.3 times expected 2008 earnings, below the real estate sector average, according to Reuters data.

DFM generates its revenues from trading-commission fees. (Reuters)