DFM rises to 4-month high

Dubai stocks rose to the highest in more than four months on bets earnings will beat expectations and after the US jobless rate slid to the lowest level in three years, boosting the outlook for the global economy. Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), last week posted a 25 per cent surge in full-year profit, jumped 1 per cent. Arabtec Holding (ARTC) rose to the highest in more than two years. Dubai’s DFM General Index (DFMGI) surged 2.2 per cent to 1,466.84, the highest since Sept.21, at the 2pm close in the emirate. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index increased 0.8 per cent. “A combination of good international news flow and strong banking results announced last week are giving the DFM reason to continue its strong performance,” said Samer Darwiche, a Dubai-based analyst at Gulfmena Investments. Dubai Islamic Bank said on Thursday that full-year net income was Dhs1.01 billion, meeting estimates. Emaar Properties (EMAAR), may post this week a 59 per cent surge in fourth-quarter profit to Dhs436 million ($119 million), according to the median estimate of four analysts on Bloomberg. Dubai Islamic Bank shares climbed to Dhs2.12. Emaar, which has the biggest weighting on Dubai’s index, rose Dhs3.2 per cent to Dhs2.87, the highest since Aug.7. Arabtec surged 9.2 per cent to Dhs2.38, the highest since November 2009. The stock is up 50 per cent so far this year on speculation investors are accumulating the shares amid bets it will benefit from regional infrastructure spending. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in the US rose for a fifth week, after the country’s unemployment rate dropped to a three-year low and manufacturing gauges in the US, China and Europe increased. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) surged 3.1 per cent last week, also its fifth week of gains. Dubai’s stocks are valued at about 9 times estimated earnings, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That compares with 10.4 times for emerging market stocks and 10.5 times for the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index. Crude oil advanced 1.5 per cent to $97.84 a barrel in New York on Feb.3. Gulf Arab oil exporters, including Qatar and the UAE, supply about a fifth of the world’s oil. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index rose 0.4 per cent, advancing for a tenth day for the longest winning streak since September 2009. Shares valued at about 8.2 billion riyals ($2.2 billion) were traded in Saudi Arabia, compared with a 12-month daily average of 4.8 billion riyals. “Investors are pulling out of other investments and into Saudi equities, which is being seen in the increase in value traded” Gulfmena’s Darwiche said. “Saudi Arabia is the main Middle East and North Africa market, and the flows are mainly retail.”