Aabar shares near buyout price

Aabar moved up 9.8 per cent to close at Dh1.89

Aabar shares were pushed higher by investors yesterday, closing just short of the price being offered in a proposed takeover of the company. Aabar moved up 9.8 per cent, the third consecutive day of big gains, to close at Dh1.89. Aabar's majority shareholder, the International Petroleum Investment Company, yesterday opened its offer to buy back shares from investors for Dh1.95. The offer is good to August 5 and trading of Aabar shares will be suspended on August 8.

"All these transactions are people trying to buy," said Mohammed Ali Yassin, the chief executive of Shuaa Securities in Abu Dhabi. "Speculators would have bought at any price and made a profit during the trading session." The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index moved up 0.3 per cent to 2,543.36. Dana Gas, the only listed oil and gas production company in the country, jumped 2.7 per cent to 74 fils. Dana was rated "buy" at Deutsche Bank.

National Bank of Ras al Khaimah, or RAK Bank, remained unchanged at Dh4.10 after the company reported a first-half profit of Dh468.3 million against a profit of Dh343.8m for the same period last year. The Dubai Financial Market General Index slipped 0.5 per cent to 1,509.78. On NASDAQ Dubai, DP World lost 4.94 per cent to close at 42 US cents. Kuwait's measure declined 0.1 per cent to 6,494.30, Bahrain's rose 0.2 per cent to 1,404.47, and Oman's remained largely flat at 6,223.37. Qatar's index inched up 0.1 per cent to 6,935.42 and the Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index dropped 1.02 per cent to 6068.64.