UAE bourses up again as investors more confident

Market wrap The Abu Dhabi and Dubai exchanges finished higher again yesterday, ending a week in which investor confidence seemed to improve markedly.

Shares of the property developer Aldar ended 1 per cent higher on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange at Dh4.02.

The Abu Dhabi and Dubai exchanges finished higher again yesterday, ending a week in which investor confidence seemed to improve markedly. The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index climbed almost 4 per cent for the week and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) General Index gained 3 per cent. The DFM saw volumes hit 63 per cent this week, largely due to reports of progress surrounding Dubai World's debt restructuring.

"Investors are positive," said Saad al Chalabi, an institutional trader at Al Ramz Securities. "We are slowly seeing retail investors come back. They haven't jumped 100 per cent on board yet, but they are still coming in. There's still doubt here and there if material changes have occurred." The ADX closed 0.2 per cent higher yesterday at 2,833.36. Sorouh Real Estate shares ended 2.1 per cent higher to Dh2.39. Aldar Properties shares rose 1 per cent higher to Dh4.02 a share.

First Gulf Bank shares declined 2.4 per cent to Dh18 a share after buying back 500,000 of its shares on Wednesday. The DFM climbed 1.4 per cent higher to 1,683.89. Emaar Properties ended trading 3.6 per cent higher at Dh3.49. Drake and Scull shares surged 3.5 per cent higher to Dh0.88 a share after the company announced Dh484 million (US$131.7m) of new contracts. The NASDAQ Dubai General Index closed 1.4 per cent higher to 1,793.34.

Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait's measure closed 0.2 per cent higher at 7,457.90 while the Bahrain Stock Exchange General Index closed less than 0.1 per cent higher at 1,500.94. The Qatar and Muscat main measures also closed essentially unchanged at 6,816.21 and 6,649.16 respectively. The Saudi bourse was closed for the day. @Email:[e-mail]