Difficulty in Dubai

Bloomberg

Amlak dropped as much as 9.3 percent after the U.A.E.'s biggest mortgage lender said it temporarily stopped granting new mortgages. Emaar Properties PJSC fell for a third day this week and Sorouh Real Estate Co. declined for the first time in five days. Oman's benchmark index gained the most in two weeks after the government started a local stock fund. The Dubai Financial Market General Index retreated 2 percent to 2,012.24, bringing the decline for the week to 4.5 percent. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index lost 1.6 percent.

``Low investor confidence can be directly linked to the fall in the real-estate market,'' said Motaz Herzallah, senior broker at Emirates Securities LLC. Amlak's news came after other banks took steps to restrict mortgage-lending as the global credit crisis threatens Dubai's property boom and pushes mortgage providers to restructure.

Amlak fell 5.6 percent to 1.02 dirhams, after dropping to 98 fils in intraday trading. Tamweel PJSC, the country's second- largest mortgage provider, lost 5.7 percent to 99 fils, the lowest close since listing shares in 2006.

Amlak hasn't stopped facilitating home purchases and ``our temporary measures of not sourcing new applications will bring us up to the level we have outlined in our management strategy at the beginning of the year,'' Chief Executive Officer Arif Alharmi said yesterday.