Dubai stocks show biggest gains for five months

Stocks listed in the emirate rise by 5.23%, their best one-day gain since February.

Stocks listed in Dubai rose 5.23 per cent yesterday, their best one-day gain since February as investors piled back into battered financial and property shares. Leading the way with a 12.1 per cent rise was the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the company that manages the exchange. It announced a 48 per cent decline in second-quarter profits two weeks ago compared with the same quarter last year, but its Dh128.3 million (US$34.9m) in earnings still beat analysts' expectations.

DFM's share price has surged 29 per cent since July 13. Shares in Union Properties, a developer based in Dubai, rose 9.47 per cent on a big day for property and construction firms in the emirate. Emaar Properties, the Middle East's largest developer, saw its stock rise 8.98 per cent and Arabtec increased 8.71 per cent. Dubai Islamic Bank's stock gained six per cent after it reported robustearnings at the end of last week, and du, one of the UAE's two telecommunications companies, rose 4.8 per cent on strong earnings yesterday.

Trading elsewhere in the region also was mainly positive. Abu Dhabi-listed stocks rose 0.5 per cent, Qatar's main index added 3.1 per cent, Omani shares rose 1.7 per cent and the Kuwaiti market advanced 0.9 per cent. Saudi Arabia's bourse lost 0.2 per cent and Bahraini stocks lost 0.5 per cent. [e-mail]