The biggest winner on the Dubai Financial Market on Wednesday was Gulf General Investment Company, with a 3.5 per cent rise in its share price, while Dubai Islamic Bank gained 2.6 per cent after it raised its foreign ownership limit to 25 per cent.
In the capital, Sharjah Islamic Bank also saw a rise of 3.5 per cent after it announced a 30 per cent increase in its first-quarter profits compared with the same period last year.
Commercial Bank of Dubai fell 2.5 per cent, making it the biggest loser on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index.
Khaldoun Jaradat, the trading manager at Brokerage House Securities, said that in the long term, both markets were on an upwards tragectory, driven predominantly by the property sector. Eshraq Properties was one such stock, up 5.7 per cent.
“Nowadays we are having a lot of news coming up on the market. The year-end statements are now coming out. Last year we were missing the liquidity, there were no people buying,” he said.
This year, Mr Jaradat said things were different and people have cash to invest.
“Thursday will open a little lower in price, but in general everything is moving a little bit higher.”
Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi shares closed a touch higher at 0.9 per cent.
Local markets have been experiencing a bull run in recent months as assets prices recover from the financial crisis.
The DFM General Index is roughly 43 per cent lower than its November 2005 peak but doubled in value last year.
Abu Dhabi’s index is about 18 per cent lower than its May 2005 crest even as share prices rose by more than 60 per cent last year.
halbustani@thenational.ae
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