Dubai’s bourse led gains in the Gulf Sunday as investors launched a fresh rally and shares in developer Emaar Properties surged to a six-year high.
Emaar gained 6.3 percent to 10.45 dirhams – the level last seen in May 2008 – on increased volume and helped Dubai’s benchmark jump 3.3 percent, also the highest since 2008.
Dubai’s largest-listed company launched a 66-story residential tower in Downtown Dubai Sunday, and announced sales for the development would start simultaneously in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Singapore on May 10.
“I think the sentiment is very good and people have realized that the profit-taking we saw last week was short-lived,” said Sebastien Henin, head of asset management at The National Investor.
Dubai Islamic Bank also contributed to the uptick, rising 5.5 percent to extend gains that started on Thursday when the lender posted a doubling of first-quarter net profit.
The bank also said it was in talks to buy a 40-percent stake in an Indonesian Islamic lender.
Other property and banking stocks also rose Sunday.
Abu Dhabi’s banks, on the other hand, were mixed, leaving the index with a marginal gain of 0.04 percent. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rose 2.6 percent while another large lender, First Gulf Bank, slid 1.2 percen
