Dubai stocks jump on Emaar breakout; oil weighs on Saudi

Shares in Emaar were boosted further yesterday when chairman Mohamed Alabbar was quoted as saying that the unit would list in both Dubai and London, and aimed to do so before end-June.

Reuters/Dubai

Dubai’s Emaar Properties broke major chart resistance to lift the emirate’s stock market index yesterday for a third straight session, while most Gulf markets rose as global jitters over the Ukraine crisis partially eased.

Emaar jumped 5.4% to 9.75 dirhams in its heaviest trading volume since April 2012, confirming a break above 9.16-9.20 dirhams, the February and March highs.

Shares in Emaar have been gaining since the company at the weekend announced a higher 2013 dividend and a plan to list its shopping mall unit. They were boosted further yesterday when Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar was quoted as saying in a magazine interview that the unit would list in both Dubai and London, and aimed to do so before end-June.

The stock faces another barrier at 9.75 dirhams and then at 10.50, according to NBAD Securities. “Any break over 10.60 dirhams shall ignite further buying towards 12/15 dirhams in the long term,” the brokerage said in a note.

Many analysts have fair-value estimates for Emaar above 10 dirhams. MubasherTrade Research said yesterday it had added the stock back to its list of regional favourites, and that the retail unit’s listing would effectively lift the firm’s net asset value by around 30% to 12 dirhams per share.

Dubai’s index gained 2.7% to 4,234 points. It faces technical resistance at 4,242-4,255 points, the March and February peaks.

Other property-related stocks in Dubai also gained, including construction firm Arabtec which rose 2.5% as investors bet on strong financial results and a generous profit distribution before its Tuesday board meeting.

The firm said later yesterday that its fourth-quarter income had more than tripled to 122mn dirhams ($33.2mn), and proposed a 10% cash dividend for 2013 along with a 30% bonus share issue. It paid no dividend for 2012. Analysts had on average expected a fourth-quarter profit of 79.50mn dirhams.

In Abu Dhabi, the index gained 0.5% largely on the back of the banking sector. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, which said last week that it would continue a share buy-back, climbed 1.5%.

Kuwait’s Noor Financial Investment Co, which dropped 4.8% on Monday after Pakistan’s central bank blocked the sale of its stake in Karachi-based Meezan Bank, shed another 1.7%. But the overall Kuwaiti index gained 0.7%.

Saudi Arabia’s bourse was the lone loser in the Gulf, down 0.4% on above-average volume. “I think it could be related to oil prices,” said Sebastien Henin, portfolio manager at The National Investor.

Brent crude lost more than $2 a barrel on Monday as investors bet the Ukraine crisis, which has so far prompted only minor Western sanctions against Russia, would not interrupt Russian oil supplies. Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical sector index lost 0.6%.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait’s index rose 0.7% to 7,458 points; Oman’s measure gained 0.3% to 7,018 points, while Bahrain’s gauge rose 0.2% to 1,374 points.