Dubai's Tamweel surges on results, dividend news

Shares in Dubai's Tamweel surged 6.3 percent after the sharia-compliant mortgage lender posted a near four-fold rise in full-year profit.

"It was a positive surprise on the numbers and while there is not a great deal to compare it against, the fourth-quarter profit was way ahead of our expectations," said Julian Bruce, director of institutional equity sales at EFG-Hermes.

"So that was good news in itself but the cherry on top was the 5 fils dividend. They have not paid a dividend for four years so it was bid strong in the pre-market, is now up and I expect this strength to hold."

Other real estate-linked stocks on the Dubai bourse were mixed. Deyaar gained 3.2 percent and National Central Cooling Co (Tabreed) rose 4.3 percent, but Arabtec slipped 1.1 percent.

Dubai's index fell 0.4 percent to 1,396 points. Emirates NBD, Dubai's largest bank by market value, is the main drag, fell 0.7 percent.

Abu Dhabi's benchmark also fell, dropping 0.5 percent to 2,422 points.

Dana Gas accounted for more than two-thirds of all shares changing hands. Dana was up 2.7 percent after posting its full-year earnings before the start of trading.

In Qatar, investors' reaction to full-year numbers from another sharia-compliant financial institution was less positive as Masraf Al Rayan dropped 2.2 percent.

The Islamic bank reported a 16 percent rise in full-year profit on Sunday.

Qatar's bourse slipped 0.3 percent to 8,416 points.

In Kuwait, the main share index was 0.1 percent higher at 5,863 points.

Kuwait Finance House slipped for a second day, down 1.1 percent.

Kuwait investors continued to target small-cap companies. Abyaar Real Estate Development Co was the most traded stock on the exchange, up 3.1 percent.

Oman's index traded in marginally positive territory, up 0.1 percent at 5,600 points.