Dubai's Stocks Rally Most in 10 Months as Egypt Mubarak Says to Step Down - Bloomberg

Persian Gulf shares rose, sending Dubai’s gauge up the most in almost ten months, on optimism Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s pledge to step down will help quell protests that entered a ninth day.

Emaar Properties PJSC, the builder with investments in the North African country, gained the most since June. Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC advanced 3.7 percent after Fitch Ratings assigned the lender a long-term foreign currency issuer rating of A. The DFM General Index surged 3.3 percent, the most since April 11, to 1,594.87 at the 2 p.m. close in Dubai. The measure extended gains after Yemen’s president said he won’t seek another term. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index climbed 1.5 percent, the most since Dec. 5, at 1:20 p.m. in Riyadh.

Mubarak’s speech offered a “clearer picture in terms of the political reading regionally; the markets had overreacted before,” said Haissam Arabi, chief executive officer of Gulfmena Alternative Investments in Dubai. “We expect minimal impact on the micro level. It’s a matter of days before the dust settles.”