Dubai shares staged their longest rally in six years as investors looked to the emirate as a safe haven amid political turmoil elsewhere.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index extended a 10th consecutive day of gains as it closed the week up marginally at 1681.93 points.
Emirates NBD, the country's largest bank by assets, was the top gainer as it advanced 2.7 per cent to Dh3.80, though this was just on around 181,000 volume of shares traded.
Shares in the Dubai Financial Market company, the Arab world's only publicly listed exchange was the most traded stock in Dubai on volume that surpassed 37 million shares.
"More and more people are taking cash from under the pillow and taking it to market," said Mohammed Ali Yasin, the chief investment officer at CAPM Investments.
"There's a new confidence in the market," he said.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange also ended slightly higher at 2,711.15 points, driven by trading on Dana Gas.
The company closed nearly 3 per cent higher to 71 fils, the highest point since the end of January, on speculation the energy giant is looking at a London flotation.
Elsewhere in the market: Kuwait shares reversed a loss to end up 0.1 per cent at 6442.50 points. Qatar's index closed up 0.2 per cent at 8647.73 points and Bahrain's bourse closed flat at 1400.83 points. Muscat's measure ended down 0.2 per cent at 6353.31 points. Egypt's benchmark index gained 0.3 per cent at 5002.25 points. Saudi's Tadawul was closed for the day.
