Dubai: The Dubai index jumped to end at its highest level in nearly a week yesterday due to bargain buying in Arabtec and Emaar Properties. The Abu Dhabi index also ended higher. The Dubai Financial Market General Index ended 1.47 per cent higher at the intraday high of 4,441.88, a level last seen on October 15. The index had shed about 14 per cent last week.

“People are taking this opportunity to put some money in the market, after a huge fall seen last week. We might see more of bargain buying in days to come,” Sebastien Henin, head of asset management at The National Investor told Gulf News.

“We cannot say the correction is over, but we have stability in the market, which will depend on international markets, crude oil,” said Henin.

Elsewhere, stocks in Europe rose after companies including Actelion Ltd. and Swedbank AB posted better-than- estimated earnings. U.S. index futures also advanced.

Brent crude oil held gains around $86 a barrel as news of robust Chinese oil demand buoyed the market, although prices were capped by oversupply and concerns about the health of the rest of the global economy.

Implied oil demand in the world’s largest energy consumer jumped 6.2 per cent in September from August to 10.3 million barrels per day, the highest since February.

Bullish on real estate:

“We are very bullish on real estate, as there is a lot of demand,” said Henin. On Tuesday, Emaar Properties, the developer of the world’s tallest building and the company with the biggest weighting on the emirate’s index, ended 1.49 per cent to be at Dh10.20.

Arabtec, which was the most active stock in terms of value, rose 1.05 per cent to end at Dh3.86 per share. On Sunday, Arabtec said it plans to launch the first phase of a huge housing project in Egypt before the end of this year.

In March, Arabtec announced it would build one million homes in Egypt in a $40 billion project backed by the Egyptian and UAE governments, as part of efforts to ease the country’s housing shortage.

Out of a total of 31 shares traded on the exchange, shares of 11 companies declined, shares of 19 rose, while share of one company stayed unchanged.

The Abu Dhabi ADX General Index also ended 1.1 per cent higher at 4,771.29. Shares of Waha Capital rose 1.12 per cent after the company said it received a regulatory approval for the share buyback program.

Out of a total of 26 companies on the ADX, shares of 11 companies rose, while 12 of them declined and the other three remained steady.