Dubai stocks dive to 27-month low on real estate woes
Dubai stocks hit a 27-month low on Thursday on the back of sharp falls in the real estate market and a drop in liquidity levels.
The Dubai Financial Market Index ended the day's trading down 1.83 percent on 2,947.99 points breaching the 3,000-point psychological barrier.
The Dubai bourse, the most exposed to the global markets in the Gulf region, dropped 3.1 percent by the close of the Muslim trading week.
The market has shed 12.5 percent since the start of the year as cash injections dropped sharply, with the main fall coming from the vital real estate sector.
"Dubai market has underperformed its (Gulf Cooperation Council) GCC markets losing over 12 percent (YTD) dragged by the sell-off in Real Estate sector," MR Raghu, head of research at Kuwait Financial Center (Markaz) said.
Most of the seven Gulf bourses have made good gains in 2018 due to a partial recovery in oil prices, with Saudi stocks rising 12 percent.
"Fundamentally, the real estate prices have been falling and the market has been sluggish," Raghu told AFP.
Dubai real estate witnessed a 46 percent fall in off-plan sales by value in the first quarter, and a 24 percent decline in previously owned resales, he said.
The real estate sector is one of the main pillars for Dubai's highly diversified economy, which is not dependent on oil.
The index of the real estate sector on Dubai bourse has shed around 18 percent since the start of the year with property giant and market leader Emaar dropping 22 percent.
Damac Properties, a leading real estate developer, was down 26 percent and troubled Drake and Scull International shed 50 percent since January 1.
A massive fall in liquidity levels and reports that international investors, an important component in the market, have moved to Saudi Arabia, are other causes for the downturn, analysts said.
According to local economic reports, liquidity levels dropped a massive 35 percent in April alone
Diplomatic leaks: UAE dissatisfied with Saudi policies
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ) is working on breaking up Saudi Arabia, leaked documents obtained by Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar revealed.
Al Akhbar said that the leaked documents contained secret diplomatic briefings sent by UAE and Jordanian ambassadors in Beirut to their respective governments.
One of the documents, issued on September 20, 2017, disclosed the outcome of a meeting between Jordan's ambassador to Lebanon Nabil Masarwa and his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdel-Al al-Qenaie.
"The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed is working on breaking up the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," the Jordanian envoy quoted the Kuwait ambassador as saying.
A second document, issued on September 28, 2017, reveals meeting minutes between the Jordanian ambassador and his UAE counterpart Hamad bin Saeed al-Shamsi.
The document said the Jordanian ambassador informed his government that UAE believes that "Saudi policies are failing both domestically and abroad, especially in Lebanon".
"The UAE is dissatisfied with Saudi policies," the Jordanian envoy said.
The Qatar vote
According to the leaks, UAE ambassador claims that Lebanon voted for Qatar's Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari in his bid to become head of UNESCO in October 2017.
"[Lebanese Prime Minister Saad] Hariri knew Lebanon was voting for Qatar," the UAE ambassador said in a cable sent to his government on October 18, 2017.
In November last year, Hariri announced his shock resignation from the Saudi capital Riyadh.
He later deferred his decision, blaming Iran and its Lebanese ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, for his initial resignation. He also said he feared an assassination attempt.
Officials in Lebanon alleged that Hariri was held hostage by Saudi authorities, an allegation Hariri denied in his first public statement following his resignation speech.
The United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States, Yousef al-Otaiba, berated Saudi Arabia's leadership, a series of emails leaked by a computer hacking group reveal.
In a 2008 email chain with his wife Abeer Shoukry, published by the Middle East Eye news website on Friday, Otaiba described the kingdom's leaders as "f****ing coo coo".
"Global Leaks" leaked the correspondence; the company is not to be confused with the Milan-based software company GlobalLeaks.
Otaiba's profane message is in reference to a decision by the Saudi government in 2008 to ban the sale of red roses on Valentine's Day.
The emails reflect a plan by Abu Dhabi to paint Saudi Arabia as a dysfunctional and religiously conservative country, whose best hope for reform was Mohammed bin Salman, the newly appointed crown prince.
The correspondence makes a case for bin Salman over his cousin and former crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef.
Influencing the 'Saudi throne'
One document from Otaiba revealed that it was time for the Emiratis to get "the most results we can ever get out of Saudi".
Another email to New York Times columnist Tom Friedman said that the UAE saw bin Salman as a favourable change within Saudi Arabia.
An exchange with David Petraeus, former CIA director and commander of coalition forces in Iraq, saw Otaiba suggest that bin Salman is more engaged in day-to-day issues, while dismissing the man he later replaced, Mohammed bin Nayef, as being "off his game".
In a major reshuffle in late June, Saudi Arabia's King Salman appointed his son, bin Salman, as his heir, removing his nephew bin Nayef.
David Hearst, Middle East Eye editor and author of the article, said UAE leaders see the current crown prince, bin Salman, as "their man" in Riyadh.
"Because bin Nayef had a very good record and a very good reputation in Washington, one of the aims was to sow the seeds of doubt," he told Al Jazeera from London.
He explained that Abu Dhabi was attempting to make opportunity of a US retreat from the Middle East and influence "the Saudi throne"
"That is incidentally why Otaiba spent so much trouble putting the knife in bin Nayef for quite sometime before he actually got sacked as the crown prince," Hearst said.
'Washington's charming man'
Otaiba is a well-known figure in US national security circles, described by some as "the most charming man in Washington".
He has participated in Pentagon strategy meetings at the invitation of defence officials.
The latest leak comes after hackers released the first series of emails from the inbox of the UAE envoy in early June.
Those emails showed that the Emirati ambassador played a role in a campaign to downgrade the image and importance of Qatar as a regional and global power.
The emails also showed collusion with journalists who have published articles accusing Qatar and Kuwait of supporting "terrorism".
The release of those leaked emails came a week after a cyberattack on Qatar's official news agency, during which fake remarks critical of US foreign policy were posted and attributed to the Qatari emir.
Two days after the initial release of emails, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt cut all diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar for supporting "terrorism". Qatar denies the allegations.
