Dubai: Dubai bourse benchmark began the week on good footing, tracking its GCC peers who made gains amid rising oil prices.
Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index gained 0.9 per cent to trade at 1,911 points, while Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) ended relatively flat at 4,062 points.
Brent crude settled 4.4 per cent up at $32.50 a barrel and US crude prices jumped 7 per cent on Friday as demand shows signs of picking with countries easing travel restrictions.
Crude prices have been edging up the last few weeks, in contrast to sharp prior-month declines, as some countries relaxed coronavirus restrictions to allow factories and shops to reopen.
“Countries across the region have eased lockdown measures recently, but the decision by some to step up their containment measures is a timely reminder that the virus threat has not disappeared,” noted Jason Tuvey, a senior markets economist at Capital Economics. So, market gains across the GCC is expected to be limited in the days ahead.
The Gulf region’s largest bourse Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul jumped 1.4 per cent on the back of additional support from corporate earnings. The kingdom’s biggest lender National Commercial Bank posted a better-than-expected 2.1 per cent rise in quarterly profit.
Boursa Kuwait was also up, rising by 1.1 per cent, while the benchmark in Bahrain gained 0.3 per cent. Muscat Securities Market rose by 1.1 per cent, but Qatar Stock Exchange dipped slightly on Sunday.
US crude benchmark gained 20.5 per cent last week, even as the International Energy Agency – the institution that advises oil consuming nations – forecast lower global stockpiles in the second half of 2020.
The Dubai index was helped by a 0.8 per cent gain in Emaar Properties and 0.5 per cent rise in Emaar Malls. Budget carrier Air Arabia was up 2 per cent and Deyaar Development rose 2.8 per cent despite each reporting lower first-quarter profits.
DFM’s corporate entity rose 14.9 per cent at 76 fils amid news reports over the weekend which speculated a potential merger of the country’s local stock markets, Abu Dhabi’s ADX and Dubai’s DFM. Dubai denied being in talks with Abu Dhabi.
