The Dubai stock market rallied 4.1 per cent as oil closed above $60 a barrel and global fund managers bought into local stocks, pushing Emaar Properties to close at a five-month high.
Dana Gas rose to a seven-month high after announcing a new gas find in the Nile delta in Egypt.
"Obviously such an oil price run-up will feed into the economy and can eventually attract capital back to the stock market," said Yong Wei Lee, a senior funds manager at EIS Securities, the asset managing arm of Emirates NBD. Oil income accounts for more than one third of the Emirates' GDP.
The Dubai Financial Market Index ended the day at 1734.54, up 4.1 per cent, while Abu Dhabi's main index rose 0.5 per cent to close at 2625.81.
"These markets here have been long underperforming and they are now catching up with overall emerging markets," said Yazan Abdeen, a funds manager at ING Management. "Dubai will profit from this in the short term."
Local markets now stand a "good possibility of rallying until there could be new negative news from the property market in June or July", Mr Abdeen added.
Many analysts are fearing a great departure of expatriates this summer, as many families may wait until the end of the school year to leave the Emirates.
Mr Lee said property remained the key for a broader and more sustained recovery in UAE markets. "Unless confidence returns to the real estate sector, it is difficult to see a strong comeback for UAE stocks."
Emaar Properties rose 12.6 per cent amid high volumes.
The stock, which lost 85 per cent last year, closed at Dh2.95, a new record for the year.
Funds managers said the recovery in the stock was expected.
"What we are probably experiencing is a rotation among property stocks. The stock has lagged its peers for the past two months and is playing catch up," Mr Lee said.
Analysts also pointed to strong gains by small-cap and mid-cap companies such as the Islamic insurers Takaful Emarat and Dar Takaful.
Dana Gas rose 4.8 per cent to Dh1.09 after the company said on Saturday it had discovered gas in one of its concessions in the Nile delta. The well will add as much as 30 billion cubic feet of gas to the company's reserves in Egypt.
uharnischfeger@thenational.ae
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia