Dubai index reclaims 4,000 mark led by property stocks

17/04/2015 10:20 AST

The Dubai index extended gains to reclaim the keenly-watched 4,000 level on Thursday, reaching its December highs, led by property majors like Emaar Properties and DAMAC.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index ended 3.51 per cent higher to end at 4,079.91, after gaining nearly 2.5 per cent in the previous session.

Emaar Properties jumped 9.40 per cent to end at its highest level in four months at Dh8.15 after Mohamed Alabbar was re-elected as the chairman of the company. Emaar Properties, which has the highest weightage on the Dubai index, was the most actively traded stock, contributing to a fourth of the total volumes.

“It was a blockbuster session. Market was previously trading in a narrow range and the breach above the 4,000 level gave clear indication to the market that upside momentum would continue at least in the medium term and would encourage investors to participate in the market and take up blue chips at attractive levels,” Marwan Shurrab, fund manager and head of trading at Vision Investments & Holdings told Gulf News.

Other property majors like DAMAC Properties, which ended 11.54 per cent higher at Dh2.90, also performed well. Arabtec also ended 4.66 per cent higher at Dh2.92. Out of a total of 36 stocks traded on the exchange, shares of 24 companies rose, while shares of 11 companies fell.

Volumes also breached the Dh2 billion mark in trade, pointing to re-emergence of interest from institutional and retail investors.

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index ended 0.72 per cent to be at 4,655.80.

Gulf News