Dubai, Abu Dhabi seen extending losses

Dubai shares are seen sliding further on Wednesday, with the emirate doing more to vex than appease investors after a top official said it would take more than six months to restructure Dubai World. Moody's downgrade of six government-linked firms including Emaar Properties and and DP World is likely to further sour sentiment. "Large volumes of shares were placed for sale on limit down prices on selected key stocks - we can only assume that (Wednesday) will not be a good day," says Ayman el-Saheb director of operations at Darahem Financial Brokerage. Dubai's index ended Tuesday at a 21-week low, having fallen 22 per cent in the five trading sessions since Dubai World asked for a debt standstill, almost entirely wiping out this year's gains. "We have seen foreign institutions selling at the beginning of the week and that has been transferred yesterday to locals selling," says Nicholas Wright head of institutional investments at Mubasher. "We expect volatility to remain high over the week however it is hard to predict how much further the market can fall without some sort of technical bounce at these levels."