Dubai: The Dubai index ended higher on Tuesday led by Emaar Properties, whose shares will get listed on the local bourse later in the week, making the index the best performer in the GCC region with 30 per cent gains. The Abu Dhabi index also ended higher.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index ended 0.90 per cent higher at 5,042.92, building on the previous session’s gains. The index was the best performing index in the GCC region followed by the Qatar index. Both are the constituents of the MSCI and S&P indices.

The re-classification of Dubai and Qatar index by the MSCI and S&P has helped to re-kindle interest from foreign investors. The upgrade of the Dubai index is expected to pump in billions of dollars into the market.

“I expect the market to continue the positive moves until the index is above the support level of 4,950 levels. We expect the strong September quarter performance to continue since there are more IPOs coming into the market,” said said Mousa Haddad, equity fund manager at National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s asset management Group.

Shares of Emaar Mall Group will list on the DFM on October 2. Emaar Properties said that shares in its mall unit will be sold at Dh2.9 per share, putting the unit’s market value at Dh37.7 billion. Emaar Properties has raised $1.6 billion by selling 15 per cent stake in its unit, Emaar Mall Group.

“I would expect the market to be very positive for Emaar Mall IPO. People who didn’t get an allocation during the IPO may go back to the market and buy the stock. We expect the Emaar Mall to be a high beta stock,” Haddad said. “We will see money coming back into the market after the IPO. Investors will buy back whatever they had sold before the IPO,” he added.

Another health care and education firm Amanat Holdings said on Tuesday it plans to raise Dh1.37 billion by selling 55 per cent of its share capital.

On the index, out of a total of 30 shares traded on the exchange, shares of 6 companies declined, shares of only 19 rose, while shares of the remaining 5 companies stayed unchanged.

In Abu Dhabi, the general index ended 0.08 per cent higher at 5,106.29, ending the quarter by almost 11 per cent gains. Out of a total of 31 companies, shares of 15 companies rose, while 9 of them declined and the other 7 remained steady.