Sunday 2 January 2011

Dubai Shares Climb Most in Two Months, Lifted by Oil; Egyptian Stocks Drop - Bloomberg

Dubai shares advanced the most in more than two months, leading gains in Persian Gulf markets, as oil climbed to the highest year-end price since 2007. Egypt’s benchmark retreated as a bomb killed 21 people yesterday.

Dubai Investments PJSC, which owns stakes in more than 40 companies, soared the most since Sept. 19. Drake & Scull International PJSC, the Dubai-based engineering contractor, rose for a fifth day. The DFM General Index advanced 2.3 percent, the most since Oct. 28, to 1,668.27 at the 2 p.m. close in the emirate. The measure lost 9.6 percent in 2010. Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index increased 0.8 percent and the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index of companies in the region climbed 0.3 percent.

“The continuous rise in oil prices” is pushing stocks higher, said Tariq Qaqish, director and fund manager at Al Mal Capital PSC in Dubai. Crude prices “will support the United Arab Emirates’ economy and that should trickle down to corporate earnings”