Investors were drawn to Gulf Finance House (GFH) shares yesterday after the Bahrain-based investment bank overnight reported a 252 per cent increase in second-quarter net profit.
GFH, which is listed on the Dubai Financial Market, rose 1.1 per cent to close at 53 fils a share.
However, the benchmark Dubai Financial Market General rose a marginal 0.1 per cent to 4,813.06 points amid low trading volumes of Dh397 million.
“It’s a normal market for the month of August when there’s a lack of news flow,” said Sebastien Henin, the head of asset management at The National Investor in Abu Dhabi.
“Both local and international investors are not looking at the market. They will be back in September, when a lot of IPOs are expected, but so far I don’t think they want to take any positions at the moment.”
Arabtec Holding inched 0.9 per cent higher to Dh4.24 a share. Emaar Properties declined 0.5 per cent to Dh10.05 each.
Abu Dhabi’s gauge was lifted by banking stocks. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index rose 1 per cent to close at 5,052.94 points.
Sharjah Islamic Bank surged 4 per cent to Dh2.08 a share. Finance House jumped 4.7 per cent to Dh3.77. National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank, Abu Dhabi’s two largest lenders by market value, rose 2.1 and 2.8 percent respectively.
Valuations suggest a modest amount of room for FGB to rise further, however. Eleven out of 14 analysts polled by Reuters have a “buy” or “strong buy” rating for FGB, with a mean price target of Dh19.66.
halsayegh@thenational.ae
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