Today's Edition
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
The UAE stock markets ended February in positive territory when compared to January-end despite the geopolitical tensions that enveloped the region toward the close of the month.
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange’s (ADX) main index gained 1.7% in February, bringing its total gains in the first two months of the year to 4.6%, according to the monthly data released by Kamco Invest. Dubai Financial Market’s (DFM) main index rose 1.1%, taking its year-to-date gain in 2026 to 7.5%.
On the ADX, the FTSE ADX Index recorded its third consecutive monthly rise during February. Sectoral performance was “moderately positive” with six out of ten sector indices posting gains during the month, the Kamco Invest report said. The Consumer Discretionary Index registered the largest increase, rising 13%, driven by gains in seven of the nine companies in the sector, with Abu Dhabi National Hotels leading the advance with a 19% jump. The Real Estate Index followed with the second-largest rise of 12.2%, with all five companies in the sector posting gains, led by Aram Group with a 17% increase. In contrast, the Healthcare Index recorded the steepest decline among sectors, falling 4.1% during the month.
In terms of individual stock performance on ADX, Insurance House topped the monthly gainers’ chart with its share price more than tripling during the period. It was followed by Sharjah Cement & Industrial Development and Orascom Construction, which posted gains of 30.0% and 22.8%, respectively. Insurance House’s sharp rise followed its results disclosure, which showed a rebound from a net loss of Dh19.7 billion in 2024 to a net profit of Dh4.8 billion in 2025.
On the decliners’ side, Al Buhaira National Insurance recorded the sharpest fall with a drop of 18.4%, followed by UAQ General Investments and 2PointZero Group, which declined 12.7% and 11.9%, respectively.
Trading activity on ADX increased during the month. Total volume of shares traded rose 16.6% to 6.4 billion shares, compared with 5.5 billion shares in January. The value of traded shares also increased by 14.3% to reach Dh29.1 billion during the month. ADNOC Gas emerged as the most active stock by volume with about 0.82 billion shares traded, followed by Two Point Zero Group and Americana Restaurants International. In terms of value traded, Aldar Properties led the market with approximately Dh3 billion worth of shares changing hands, followed by ADNOC Gas with about Dh2.96 billion. At the end of February, the total market capitalisation of ADX-listed companies stood at around Dh3.12 trillion.
The Dubai Financial Market also recorded a monthly gain, with the DFM General Index rising 1.1% in February to close at 6,503.5 points, marking its third consecutive monthly advance. Sector performance was slightly skewed toward the decliners, with three of the eight sector indices recording gains while the rest posted losses. The rise in the benchmark index was largely supported by strong performance in the Real Estate and Communication Services sectors, which gained 8.3% and 6.3%, respectively. Within the Real Estate sector, Al Mazaya Development Holding and Emaar Development led the gains with increases of 15.4% and 12.5%. Meanwhile, the Financials Index declined by 2.2%, weighed down by a 14.1% drop in the share price of Dubai Islamic Bank.
Among individual stocks on DFM, Oman Insurance topped the gainers’ list with a rise of 22.0%, followed by Dubai Insurance and Al Mazaya Holding, which gained 18.5% and 15.4%, respectively. On the decliners’ side, Talabat Holding registered the biggest fall with a drop of 25.6%, followed by Islamic Arab Insurance and Dubai Islamic Bank with declines of 18.5% and 14.1%, respectively.
Trading activity on DFM also increased sharply during the month. Total traded volume rose 16.4% to 5.2 billion shares, compared with 4.5 billion shares in January. The value of traded shares climbed even faster, rising 35% to Dh19.6 billion. Talabat topped the volume chart with about 1.1 billion shares traded, followed by Drake & Scull International and Emaar Properties. In terms of value traded, Emaar Properties led the market with Dh6.8 billion worth of shares exchanged, followed by Emirates NBD and Air Arabia. Market capitalisation of companies listed on the Dubai Financial Market stood at about Dh1.04 trillion at the end of February.
Across the wider region, GCC equity markets overall declined during February, dropping 2.5% mainly due to falls in Saudi Arabia and Qatar amid heightened geopolitical tensions. Among the regional markets, Oman recorded the strongest performance with a gain of 16.8%, while Saudi Arabia declined by 5.9% during the month. In terms of year-to-date performance, Oman remained the top-performing market with gains of 26%.
