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First Gulf Bank shares buck regional downtrend

02 November 2010

With 20 decliners and only three gaining shares, the ADX benchmark index ended the session on Tuesday 1.42% lower to close at 2,763.66 points. Investors dumped real estate shares, such as Aldar Properties (down 6.18% at Dhs2.40) or RAK Properties (3.92% lower at Dhs0.50). Shares of First Gulf Bank (FGB), the UAE's fourth largest lender by assets, added 0.60% to finish at Dhs16.75. Credit Suisse issued a strong buy recommendation for FGB shares on October 27: "We expect FGB to maintain high profitability of some 20% return on equity in 2011E despite the very high capitalization levels (tier 1 20%, CAR 23.4%), and is still trading at 1x book value. We see room for multiples re-rating and thus maintain our Outperform rating and 12 month target price of Dhs28 per share", says Credit Suisse analyst Mohamad Hawa.

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