Dubai index closed higher on Friday, boosted by a 15% surge in lender Mashreqbank, while Abu Dhabi stocks slipped on volatility in crude markets.
Middle East crude benchmarks were mixed on Friday, with Oman and Murban lower and Dubai edging higher on the last trading session of September.
In Dubai, the main share index rose 0.7%, driven by gains in heavyweight real estate and financial stocks as Blue-chip developer Emaar Properties jumped 1.4% and Dubai developer’s construction unit Emaar Development advanced 2.9%.
Mashreqbank shares have gained following a report on Wednesday that the lender has received bids from several companies to purchase stake in its payment unit.
Among other stocks, low-cost carrier Air Arabia gained 1.5% after its unit announced a new direct flight to Moscow.
However, the index registered a monthly loss of 3%, its biggest drop in a month since September 2021.
In Abu Dhabi, the index retreated 0.7%, weighed down by a 2.6% drop in the United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and a 1.6% fall in energy firm Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA).
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Health insurance provider Hayah Insurance declined nearly 10% after major shareholder Gulf Insurance Group sold its entire holding in the company.
Separately, Abu Dhabi-based Hospital operator Burjeel Holdings set a price range for its initial public offering (IPO) at 2 to 2.45 dirham ($0.5446 to $0.6671) a share, implying an equity value of $3.3 billion at the top end.
The company intends to sell around 550.7 million shares, or 11%, of issued share capital including 200 million new shares to be issued by Burjeel.
The Abu Dhabi index posted a monthly decline of 1.3%, according to Refinitiv data.
================================================ ABU DHABI down 0.7% to 9,711 points DUBAI .DFMGI up 0.7% to 3,339 points ================================================
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