DUBAI — Shares in real estate giant Emaar Properties and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank surged yesterday but failed to inspire flat UAE markets.
The benchmark Dubai index inched up 0.33 per cent to 477.89 points. Abu Dhabi's benchmark index edged down 0.5 per cent to 3,685.99 points.
Emaar rose 3.2 per cent to 12.90 dirhams ($3.51) after its chairman was quoted as saying it had applied to buy back 10 per cent of its shares, the maximum allowed under a new law.
"Emaar presented a request 10 days ago to the Securities and Commodities Authority to buy back the maximum allowed," the daily Al Ittihad quoted Mohammed Alabbar as saying. "Emaar has enough liquidity to buy back 10 per cent of its shares."
Brokers said the effect on UAE markets may have been muted because it would take weeks for Emaar to clear regulatory procedures and begin buying, although the announcement helped shift speculative trading from Abu Dhabi to Dubai.
"We saw some volume of trade moving between the two markets," said Majdi Mansour, head of brokerage at Rasmala Investments.
He said Dubai's market would stay at current levels until Emaar started buying, which he estimated could take two or three weeks.
The UAE's smaller bourse in Abu Dhabi has over the past week overshadowed trading in Dubai after an Abu Dhabi pension fund said it was buying shares it considered to have low valuations.
Heavy buying on Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, thought to be from a large investor with links to the UAE government, has also boosted trade in Abu Dhabi as speculators sought to ride the price rise.
The bank's shares surged to the maximum allowed 10 per cent in early trade before retreating slightly to a close of 86.10 dirhams, up 7.42 per cent.
The bank's shares had fallen last week on profit taking but its shares are still more than twice their level in mid-May.