DFM index hits 1-year high on oil price surge

"The oil price has a huge impact on Gulf markets," Bloomberg said in a report quoting Mohamed Dwaikat, senior broker at Abu Dhabi's Al Fajer Securities. "Gulf economies are strong and revenues from oil are boosting their growth."

Dubai's main index rose 153.86 points or 3.24 per cent to close at 4,898.08, its highest rise in more than a year while shares in Abu Dhabi posted their biggest one-day gain since May 13, 2006 with a jump of 4.5 per cent to 4,210.98.

Emaar Properties, the Arab world's largest real estate developer by market value, advanced over three per cent to Dh11.95 following its Dh60-billion joint venture with Bawadi development, a project of Dubai Holding's unit Tatweer.

A Reuters report said the project will help Emaar, which on Thursday dropped 1.28 per cent to Dh11.60, benefit more from the UAE's real estate boom. The project, which includes a theme park, six hotels and 1,200 apartments at Dubailand, will start generating revenue by 2009.

"The news is positive for the stock and will give it a push," it quoted Alaa El Din Moustafa, chief dealer at Cairo-based securities broker EFG. "However, investors still have worries lingering from the previous land-for-stock deal that was cancelled and because Emaar's third quarter profit fell short of expectations."

Emirates NBD Bank topped the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index with an advance of 15 per cent to close at Dh15.55 following an opening price of Dh15. It also led the gainers on Thursday with a rise of 15 per cent to Dh13.55.

The volume of traded shares on DFM reached 1.1 billion and valued at Dh3.6 billion. Twenty-five companies had advanced while two had declined and one was unchanged.

Bahraini-based Gulf Finance House, a regional player in Islamic investment and commercial banking, slumped 0.8 per cent to close at Dh9.10 after it opened at Dh9.17. The only other loser was Oman Insurance Co, which slipped 0.33 per cent to Dh8.95.

The telecommunications sector in Abu Dhabi jumped eight per cent to 3,120.01 points, followed by the energy sector with a rise of five per cent to 394.49 and the banking and financial sector with a gain of 4.6 per cent to 5,836.21.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank topped the Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM) Index with a gain of three per cent to Dh61.50, followed by National Bank of Abu Dhabi with a rise of two per cent to Dh24.50.

The third-largest Arab phone company Emirates Telecommunications Corp, or the UAE's Etisalat, advanced 1.6 per cent to Dh22 while Qatar's exclusive telecom firm QTel was the biggest loser with a fall of 8.1 per cent to Dh218.20.