Abu Dhabi index rises for fourth straight day

The Dubai Financial Market General Index dropped 0.4 per cent on Tuesday.

The measure gained 3.1 per cent in the previous five days. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index added 0.4 per cent, increasing for a fourth day.

Commercial Bank of Dubai dropped 3.72 per cent, pulling the main index down to 5,790.69.

First Gulf Bank rose 1.2 per cent, lifting Abu Dhabi's benchmark index to 5,113.43.

Saudi Arabian stocks declined as investors sold shares to buy into Alinma Bank, the kingdom's largest share sale for five years, that started trading on Tuesday. Saudi British Bank and Riyad Bank led the fall.

The Tadawul All Share Index retreated 0.2 per cent to 9,501.92, bringing this year's decline to 14 per cent.

The Qatari benchmark climbed 0.18 per cent to 12,012.57 points.

Kuwait's benchmark eased 0.04 per cent to 15,112, led by National Bank of Kuwait , which declined 2.08 per cent.

Bahrain's measure edged up 0.3 per cent to 2,891.01 points.

/Gulf News/

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Abu Dhabi bourse eyes $200bn listings

The Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) plans to attract companies with total market capitalisation of at least $200 billion in the next two years, according to a London-based magazine.

The companies are expected to apply for initial public offerings when the Abu Dhabi government approves an amendment enabling private companies to list just 30 per cent of their equity, the Middle East Economic Digest (Meed) reported, citing the chief executive.

'Quite a few of the new companies are in real estate, some others will be retail,' Tom Healy told Meed. 'They want to use the markets as a source of funding for
further growth. If you go to a seriously oil-rich economy that wants to turn its oil-based economy into a non-oil-based economy, you are going to make money,' Healy noted.

The government is expected to privatise more state-owned enterprises, including the stock exchange, according to Healy.

The Abu Dhabi Exchange has launched a series of roadshows in Singapore and Tokyo this year as well as in New York and London last year to help attract foreign investments.

Foreign investments from outside the Middle East in the Abu Dhabi bourse reached Dh3.1 billion ($844 million) in 2006, the acting director-general Rashed al-Baloushi said last year.
/Reuters/

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