19/04/2011 00:00 AST
Dubai’s benchmark stock index rose to the highest in more than three months, extending a so-called bull market, after Templeton Asset Management Ltd’s Mark Mobius said local shares offer buying opportunities.
Dubai Investments PJSC rallied 2.8 per cent to the highest since October. Deyaar Development PJSC, the property company part-owned by Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, advanced for a third day.
The DFM General Index climbed a seventh day, adding 0.3 per cent to 1,652.76, the highest level since January 10.
Dubai’s measure rose 1.6 per cent yesterday to close at 1,648.44, bringing the surge from a low on March 3 to 22 per cent. That surpassed a 20 per cent threshold some investors consider the beginning of a bull market. The index is valued at about 0.7 times net assets, or book value, while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is valued at 2 times net assets. “All in all it’s looking good,” said Haissam Arabi, chief executive officer at Gulfmena Alternative Investments in Dubai. Mobius, who oversees $54 billion in emerging markets, said Dubai’s banking, property and services shares offer buying opportunities. He owns shares of DP World Ltd. and Aramex Co, the Middle East’s largest courier company, and is “hanging on” to Emaar Properties PJSC, the builder of the world’s tallest tower.
Dubai Investments rose to 96.6 fils, the highest level since Oct. 11. Deyaar advanced 2.9 per cent to 32.5 fils, the highest since November 4. Aramex climbed 0.5 per cent to Dh1.93, while Emaar was unchanged.
Earnings from banks, telecommunications and real-estate companies may carry “some nice surprises” in the first quarter, said Arabi, who has a “bullish” medium-term outlook on the emirate’s stocks.
Emirates NBD, the country’s biggest bank by assets, may report an 89 per cent surge in first-quarter profit to Dh2.1 billion ($572 million), according to an EFG-Hermes Holding SAE estimate on Bloomberg.
Mobius said GCC will benefit from oil prices. Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index rose 0.4 per cent.
Bloomberg
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