Abu Dhabi shares look up

Dubai: Abu Dhabi shares started the week gaining close to one per cent, while Dubai fell less than a quarter per cent as investors felt a bit buoyed by the Saudi Arabian and global uptick.

After losing more than 2.48 per cent on the last two days of the previous week, the Dubai Financial Market General Index closed 0.16 per cent down at 4,883.15. This was despite Emaar Properties falling to a 40-month low of Dh9.30, a drop of 0.96 per cent on the day.

Led by a recovery of banks, energy and real estate, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange Index pushed up 0.92 per cent to end at 4,496.39. Gainers beat losers 25 to 3, with two stocks remaining unchanged.

"It rallied a bit today, though the volumes were still not very high, and the main reason was the pick up of the Saudi market yesterday and also the US market which closed up on Friday," said Sharif Abdul Khalek, institutional manger, accounts, Beltone Financial Securities.

"I think it created a bit of good sentiment in the market, especially going into the last week of the month."

Gainers in Abu Dhabi included First Gulf Bank, up 2.34 per cent to Dh24.10,.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi rose 1.68 per cent to Dh18.20, Dana Gas was up 2.96 per cent to Dh1.74 and Aldar and Sorouh climbed 0.50 per cent to Dh10.05 and 0.13 per cent to Dh7.44.