Abu Dhabi bourse rises, Dubai index retreats

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index retreated on Wednesday, losing close to half a per cent as Moody's Investors Service cut Japan's credit rating by one step, US' economic woes seemed to be intensifying and on concerns over Europe's sovereign debt and its banks' liquidity issues. Investors are betting the US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would unleash a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) to shore up flagging market confidence and that indication may come as early as Friday. Global markets saw a sell-off following the downgrade of US debt by Standard & Poor's earlier this month which was accentuated by indications of faltering global economic recovery. The DFM index closed at 1,457.34, down 0.11 per cent. Around 34.54 million shares, cumulatively worth about Dh47.31 million were traded on the stock market.