Emaar Rises To 5-Year High As Property Stocks Gain

Emaar Properties, the builder of the world’s tallest skyscraper, rose to a five-year high as investors bet Dubai-based developers will benefit from economic growth in the emirate.

Emaar, which has the biggest weighting on the Dubai Financial Market General Index, gained three per cent to Dhs7.57 at the close of trading, its highest since Sept. 2008. The shares have more than doubled this year. Deyaar Development, rose 6.5 per cent to Dhs0.969, the biggest percentage gainer on the index today and the highest close since 2009. Union Properties, Dubai’s smallest-listed property developer, climbed 1.7 per cent to Dhs1.17.

Property companies in the emirate are benefiting from an economic recovery and a rebound in construction as Dubai prepares for the World Expo in 2020. The region’s tourism and investment hub will invest almost 6 billion euros ($8.1 billion) on infrastructure projects ahead of the event, according to Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, head of Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee and chairman of Emirates Airline.

“Emaar is one of those names which is a prime beneficiary of Dubai’s growth going forward,” Amer Khan, a director at Dubai-based Shuaa Capital PSC, said by phone.

Index provider MSCI Inc. raised the U.A.E. and Qatar to emerging-market status in June.

“Given the MSCI upgrade effective in May 2014, I would expect a lot of international clients to continue buying Emaar,” Khan said.

Dubai’s benchmark stock index advanced 1.3 per cent. The gauge has more than doubled this year and is the best performer among 93 indexes tracked by Bloomberg.