A busy day for Air Arabia

Local stocks advance, led by Air Arabia and Emaar Properties.

Air Arabia's shares were the third-most traded stock on Dubai Financial Market yesterday, rising 1.3 per cent to close at 66 fils. Pawan Singh / The National
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Air Arabia shares rose after the carrier said it would begin services to Iraq next month and investors switched towards dividend-yielding stocks.

Shares in the low-cost airline based in Sharjah increased 1.3 per cent to 66 fils each, the third most-traded stock on the Dubai Financial Market yesterday.

Emaar Properties, du and Emirates NBD also joined in gains.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index advanced 0.2 per cent to 1,591.62 points, snapping three days of declines.

But traders in the emirate also witnessed a handful of unusual moves at rarely traded stocks.

Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) shares experienced especially brisk trading, with 77.75 million shares changing hands - equivalent to 3.8 per cent of the lender's share capital. The stock price was unchanged at Dh2.9 each.

Mashreq, another stock that rarely trades, leapt 3.7 per cent to Dh55 after just 20 shares changed hands.

The share price moves may be a result of companies generating share trading activity for regulatory reasons to justify their listing requirements, said Talal Touqan, the head of research at Al Ramz Securities.

"The move isn't normal and there was no explanation," he said, referring to the trading activity on CBD's shares.

In the capital, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index held steady at 2,606.23.

Gains for Etisalat, First Gulf Bank and Gulf Pharmaceutical, also known as Julphar, were balanced by declines at Union National Bank and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

Dana Gas was the most heavily traded stock, gaining 2.3 per cent to 44 fils each.

The Sharjah company faces a US$1 billion sukuk repayment deadline at the end of next month.

Elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf, measures in Bahrain and Oman rose, while Qatar fell and Kuwait was unchanged. The Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index rose 0.24 per cent to close at 6,977.67.