Most Arabian Gulf stock markets rose in early trade on Sunday after Brent oil hit a four-and-a-half-month high and global equities rallied.
Brent crude rose on Friday because of continued fighting in Yemen and, although US crude fell on concerns about another upcoming stock build, both benchmarks posted weekly gains.
Meanwhile, positive earnings and a break-through in Greece’s debt drama boosted stock markets in Europe and the United States.
Dubai’s equities index added 0.4 per cent as most stocks rose and trading focused on Bahraini investment firm Gulf Finance House, which surged 11.7 per cent, extending its recovery from record lows hit last month. The company completed a capital reduction last week, opening the way for possible dividend payments in future.
Property developer Damac climbed 1.0 per cent after announcing on Sunday it had a development site on Al Reem island in Abu Dhabi and the project there, which was awaiting approvals, would have a sales value of about Dh1 billion. It provided no further details.
Retail start-up Marka jumped 2.4 per cent. The firm said on Sunday its acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in children’s entertainment centre network Cheeky Monkeys had cost about Dh30 million and would boost its revenues by Dh17.3m this year, Dh35.5m next year and Dh46.1m in 2017.
Abu Dhabi’s market added 0.5 per cent thanks to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, which jumped 2.5 per cent. The lender posted a 31 per cent leap in first-quarter profit last week, beating analysts’ forecasts.
Kuwait inched up 0.1 per cent while Oman was nearly flat.
Qatar’s bourse, however, slipped 0.1 per cent largely because of top lender Qatar National Bank, which lost 0.8 per cent.
business@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter
