UAE bourses take a hop on global uptick

Dubai’s benchmark stock index rose the most in almost a month while Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index climbs 1 per cent as the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates at a record low through mid-2013 and said it may use other tools to bolster the US economy. The DFM General Index gained 1.2 per cent, the most since July 13, to 1,460.96 at the 2pm close in Dubai. Emaar Properties advanced 1.5 per cent. Dubai Islamic Bank climbed the most this month. Qatar’s QE Index climbed 0.7 per cent. Kuwait’s gauge increased 0.3 per cent and Bahrain’s BB All Share Index gained 0.6 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index climbed 1.1 per cent. Oman’s MSM 30 Index decreased 0.6 per cent. In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 1.3 per cent at 5,232 while Germany’s DAX rose 2.3 per cent to 6,049. The CAC-40 in France was 1.1 per cent higher at 3,207.Wall Street was poised to give up some of Tuesday’s late gains — Dow futures were down 0.6 per cent at 11,123 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell an equivalent rate to 1,165.Earlier in Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9 per cent to 2,549.18 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 1.4 percent. Indexes in Taiwan and India also gained. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.3 percent to 19,783.67.Japanese stocks underperformed somewhat as investors continued to fret over the export-sapping appreciation of the yen.Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.1 percent to close at 9,038.74 as the dollar headed near to post World War II lows against the yen. By mid morning London time, the dollar was 0.7 percent lower at 76.56 yen, not far above the level last week that prompted the Bank of Japan to intervene in the markets to stem yen’s rise.Meanwhile, the euro was up 0.2 per cent at $1.4389. The European Central Bank stepped in Monday and bought billions of euros worth of their bonds. Worries over the US economic recovery have been building over the past couple of weeks ever since the government revealed that the world’s largest economy has been growing far more weakly in the first half of 2011 than economists expected. In a reversal of earlier forecasts, economists now believe there is a greater chance of another US recession.In the oil markets, prices recovered alongside equities. Benchmark oil for September delivery was up $2.55 to $81.82 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. From / Gulf Today