Equities resume bull run

UAE shares on Tuesday resumed their bull run after closing almost flat on the previous day as trading volumes picked up.

The Dubai Financial Market, or DFM, index rose 1.78 per cent to 4,196.85 points from Monday’s close at 4,123.51 points, taking its 2014 gains to 24.5 per cent flowing a sluggish start to the week.

As volumes soared to cross one billion shares in 12,973 trades on Tuesday, Dubai bourse recorded Dh2.34 billion in total transactions, up from Dh1.63 billion in the previous session.

Among the actively traded property shares, blue chip Emaar gained 2.85 per cent to close at Dh9.02 to take its 2014 gains to 18.1 per cent while Union Properties jumped 4.95 per cent to Dh2.12 as it proposed increasing the limit on foreign investors’ ownership to 25 per cent. Another property company Deyaar went up by 3.2 per cent to D1.29 as the developer announced that it had added 2,600 new units to its property and asset management portfolio in 2013, bringing the total tally to 20,369 units.

The largest gainer was Gulf General Investment Co, which jumped 15 per cent to close at Dh2.07. Al Salam Bank-Bahrain, which rose 14.84 per cent in the previous day slumped 3.83 per cent to Dh2.01. Among the 28 stocks trade, 18 rallied as nine dropped.

Abu Dhabi’s benchmark ADX General Index rose 1.6 per cent to close at 4,958.74 as the total value traded reached Dh676.69 million.

Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s bourse was little changed with Tadawul All-Share Index ticking up 0.05 per cent to 9,062 points. Kuwait’s market was closed for a public holiday and will resume trading on Sunday.

In Qatar, Nakilat, formally called Qatar Gas Transport Co fell 2.2 per cent after one of the world’s largest shippers of liquefied natural gas posted a 13 per cent drop in fourth-quarter net profit. It made a net profit of QR176.5 million, trailing an analyst’s estimate of QR201 million.

Qatar Islamic Bank tumbled 6.2 percent after the date passed for investors to qualify for its dividend. Doha’s benchmark shed 0.4 per cent to trim its 2014 gains to 14.2 per cent, easing off Monday’s 67-month high.

As Bahrain index ended flat at 1,387 points, Oman’s main index slipped 0.1 per cent to 7,101 points.

Cairo’s benchmark index slipped 0.2 per cent, coming off Monday’s five-year high.