Dubai's benchmark rose to its highest in more than a week yesterday after central banks said they would provide easy access to dollars for the European banking system until the end of the year.
On the Dubai Financial Market General Index, Takaful House Insurance was up 3.9 per cent to 71 fils a share, Dubai Islamic Bank rose 1.5 per cent to Dh2.02 and Tabreed was up 0.2 per cent to 78 fils. The index gained 0.2 per cent to 1,471.58.
"All the main markets were in positive territory, there is buying but not with full conviction," said Anastasios Dalgiannakis, the head of trading at Mubasher Financial Services, based in Dubai.
"An ongoing overhang of macro political economic issues, such as the European debt crisis, the Palestinian application of UN membership and ongoing revolts in Syria and Libya are likely to weigh on markets over the coming week."
In the capital, shares were weighed down by Eshraq Properties.
The developer was down 1.9 per cent to 51 fils on its second day of trading after listing on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ASX) on Thursday.
The General Index was down 0.2 per cent to 2,570.82 points.
Elsewhere in the region: Kuwait was down 0.3 per cent to 6003.30 points; Bahrain traded flat, down 0.05 per cent, to 1,264.23; Oman was up 0.3 per cent to 5,742.74; and Qatarwas up 1 per cent to 8,431.54. The Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index was down 0.4 per cent to 6,144.35.