Oil prices and Asian equities lift Dubai shares

31/08/2016 05:41 AST

Dubai stocks climbed on Tuesday, encouraged by gains in global oil prices and Asian equities. The Dubai Financial Market General Index rose by 0.5 per cent to 3,513.2, helped by property developers, banks and contractors. Emaar Properties was one of the biggest gainers, rising 0.4 per cent to Dh7.11. Dubai Islamic Bank, which has the second biggest weighting, rose 0.5 per cent to Dh5.48.

The Burj Khalifa builder Arabtec added 2 per cent to close at Dh1.47. Only three Dubai-listed stocks recorded falls. Courier company Aramex, which had gained 2.3 per cent on Monday, recorded the biggest fall on Tuesday, retreating 2.2 per cent to Dh4. Healthcare and education company Amanat and insurance company Takaful were the other decliners.

The increasing likelihood of a US interest rate hike spurred most Asian markets to gains on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, and the Shanghai and South Korean indexes all ended their sessions in positive territory.

And after a dip on Monday, Brent crude rallied 0.4 per cent by the time UAE stock markets closed on Tuesday, sending the price per barrel to US$49.51.

But the good news did not spread to Abu Dhabi’s bourse, which ended the day virtually unchanged, down 0.02 per cent.

FGB, which has the second highest weighting, fell 0.4 per cent in trading on Tuesday to close at Dh11.80. It was followed by telecoms company Etisalat, which dropped 0.2 per cent to Dh19.80, and ­National Bank of Abu Dhabi, which fell 1 per cent to close at Dh9.30.

The National