Stock News: UAE Markets Soar On Stronger Oil; Dubai Up 7.7%

Stock markets in the United Arab Emirates soared in early trade on Thursday after the price of oil rebounded late on Wednesday.

Dubai’s equities benchmark surged 7.7 per cent as all traded stocks rose. Heavyweight developer Emaar Properties rocketed 12.4 per cent and dominated trading volume.

Shares in construction firm Drake and Scull surged 12 per cent after it said its board would consider buying back up to 10 per cent of the company’s shares at a meeting on Dec. 22.

The announcement, and buy-back activity by Abu Dhabi’s Waha Capital and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank on Wednesday under existing programmes, were signs that UAE companies think their share prices are now too cheap.

Abu Dhabi’s index jumped 3.4 per cent in a broad rally.

The price of Brent crude for February delivery settled up two per cent at $61.18 a barrel on Wednesday as weeks of nearly non-stop selling abruptly halted. It was relatively steady on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait’s bourse added 1.2 per cent and Oman rose 0.5 per cent.

The main fear of Gulf investors in recent weeks has been that cheap oil will cause governments to cut back spending. But Saudi Arabian Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said on Wednesday that his government would continue spending strongly on development projects and social benefits in its 2015 budget, expected to be announced on Monday. UAE, Kuwaiti and Qatari officials have made similar statements in recent days.