Dubai stocks rise after UAE changes foreign investment rules

Dubai Financial Market’s main index edged higher in early trade on Monday, after the UAE government announced plans to allow 100 percent foreign ownership of local companies.

The benchmark index was last trading up 0.9 percent at 2,944 points, mainly driven by a sharp rise in blue chip Emaar Properties.

The developer was up 3.3 percent at AED 5.31.

Other real estate stocks also logged gains. Damac was up 3.5 percent at AED 2.36, while Arabtec rose 3.6 percent to AED 2.02.

Contractor Drake and Scull International (DSI) saw some profit-taking after rising in the previous session. The stock was last trading down 1.6 percent at AED 1.2.

Earlier, DSI reported a net profit of AED 16.2 million in Q1 2018 compared to a loss of AED 722.5 million in the same period last year.

In Abu Dhabi, the general index was last up 0.6 percent at 4,454 points.