The UAE's stock markets will grow by 20 per cent this year, according to Mohamed Ali Yassin, Chief Executive Officer of Shuaa Securities.
He based his upbeat view on the first quarter results of Abu Dhabi's banks and companies. "The UAE's stock markets will grow by at least 20 per cent this year since the profits that banks and companies have reported are very good," he said.
"The markets have said goodbye to the slowdown and will continue to rise during the coming months.
"Bank and company profits will be much better this year compared to last year since many banks recorded better results during the first quarter of 2009 than in the fourth quarter of 2008.
"This has been seen in the numbers provided by National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, First Gulf Bank and Aldar real estate company. The situation has improved much more than expected and if the companies and banks maintain their performance at the level of the first quarter then their profits will be much better this year than 2008."
Yassin said he did not care about the quality of the profits – whether they came from revaluations, investments or operations. "The most important thing is that such profits give a strong indication to the market, especially when we know that a major part of the financial markets' fall was due to a lack of confidence," he added.
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