Dubai index up for third straight day

The Dubai stock market rose for a third straight day on Thursday, while Egypt gained for a fourth straight day.

In Dubai, the index rose 1 per cent to 2,599 points with Emaar Development jumping 7.6 per cent. Union Properties and Dubai Investments, which have been trading at multiyear lows, added 7.4 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

Beyond property stocks, DXB Entertainments rose 10.4 per cent in its biggest gain since March 2016.

Trading volumes in Dubai on Thursday were the highest since early September.

The Abu Dhabi index gained 0.5 per cent to 4,862 points with Aldar Properties adding 5.2 per cent.

Energy company Dana Gas soared 8.4 per cent after saying its production had reached 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up from 62,250 boepd in the first nine months of 2018. It plans to invest in further increases.

Real estate stocks also helped Egypt’s blue-chip index gain; it rose 1.1 per cent to 12,997 points with Talaat Mostafa Group adding 5.7 per cent. Global Telecom climbed 4.4 per cent after the Egyptian exchange said Moon Capital Partners Master Fund had acquired 34.4 million shares of the company for 109.9 million Egyptian pounds . The stock had surged 6.9 per cent on Wednesday, when the exchange said it was block-traded without naming the buyer.

El Sewedy Electric dropped 1.2 per cent; it had jumped 6.5 per cent in the last half-hour of trading on Wednesday after it provided details of a deal to participate in construction of a dam in Tanzania.

The Saudi index gained 0.3 per cent to 7,914 points with real estate firm Jabal Omar rising 2.6 per cent and Saudi Telecom Company climbing 2 per cent.

Dallah Healthcare was up 4.4 per cent after its board recommended a capital increase to 750 million Saudi riyals and proposed a first-half cash dividend of 1.5 riyals. Insurer Saudi Enaya Co-operative Insurance jumped 9.9 per cent after shareholders approved a 200m riyal rights issue.

Oil slipped with Brent for February settlement down 51 cents to $59.64 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange, after losing 0.1 per cent on Wednesday. The global benchmark crude traded at an $8.82-a-barrel premium to WTI for the same month.