UAE stocks close marginally higher on thin trade

18/01/2017 09:01 AST

UAE stocks rose marginally on Tuesday in lacklustre trade as oil prices continued to edge up, stoking increasing confidence of an economic rebound among market participants.

Investors have also been buying shares of stocks that yield high dividends as the earnings season kicks off. Du, the Dubai telecoms company, and Dubai Islamic Bank, led gains in Dubai while in Abu Dhabi, Etisalat, the biggest telecoms company in the UAE, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) paced the advance.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Market General Index, the key equities gauge of the capital, rose 0.21 per cent to 4,663.14 while in Dubai, the Dubai Financial Market General Index rose 0.09 per cent to 3,672.31. Brent oil rose as much as 1.3 per cent in London.

Banks, which have some of the highest dividend yields among UAE stocks, are set to declare dividends this month when they release full-year earnings for 2016.

FGB and NBAD, which are merging with this year, revealed in third-quarter earnings that their core business of lending remained steady despite the slowdown in economic growth.

While FGB reported a 31 per cent gain in profit for the quarter on the back of strong revenue from non-core businesses, NBAD said its profit was unchanged as a gain in fees and commissions was outweighed by a slight drop in income from loans.

The Dubai Financial Market had Dh604.6 million worth of shares exchanging hands on Tuesday compared with the 50-day average of Dh829m, according to Bloomberg data. Abu Dhabi Securities Market had Dh310.2m turnover compared with the 50-day average of Dh249.7m.

The National