Insurance Stocks Provide Haven in Stormy Year for Dubai Equities - Bloomberg

Insurance Stocks Provide Haven in Stormy Year for Dubai Equities - Bloomberg:

Insurance stocks traded in Dubai are proving a haven in an unforgiving market as investors increase their bets on mergers and acquisitions in the industry after recent reforms.

Just six of the 37 members of the emirate’s benchmark equities index have gained this year, and four of those are insurers. They have all advanced by at least 4.9 percent, while the DFM General Index has slumped 18 percent, under pressure from weak real-estate developers.

The prospects of mergers and acquisitions are increasing after Dubai gave the industry a boost by making health insurance mandatory among foreign employees, including their dependents and domestic workers, under changes that started in 2014. Foreigners make up more than 80 percent of the population in the United Arab Emirates, last measured at 9.1 million in 2016.