Apr. 6--BAHRAIN MARKET UP ON GULF FINANCE HOUSE GAINS: The Dow Jones Bahrain Index gained 0.14 percent closing at 135.78 points. Islamic investment bank Gulf Finance House posted the biggest gain (4.94 percent higher). On a year-to-date change the DJ Bahrain index lost 10.63 percent.

ABU DHABI MARKET UP 0.54 PERCENT ON RAK ADVANCES: The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) closed 0.54 percent higher at 2,555.52 points. Investors were still bullish on the real estate sector, sending Ras al-Kaima (RAK) Ceramic (up 9.70 percent), RAK Properties (gaining 9.18 percent) and market bellwether Aldar from Abu Dhabi (advancing by 7.38 percent) higher. RAK Bank also ended up as a to gainer (plus 9.18 percent). Local energy leader Taqa, on the other hand, declined by three percent on profit bookings. A total of 215,345,603 shares changed hands at the ADX today.

DOHA INDEX GAINS INSIGNIFICANTLY: The Doha Securities Market DSM gained insignificantly, adding 4.55 points (up 0.09 percent) and closing at 5,164.14 points. While Qatar Technical Inspection topped the market for third consecutive trading day (up 9.38 percent), some of the banks that recently rebounded declined on profit bookings today. Examples are Al Ahli Bank (biggest loss, off 7.78 percent) or Al Khaliji Bank (down 2.65 percent). Qatar Telecom (Qtel) lost 1.83 percent, trading sideways since March 3. Meanwhile, Qtel's competitor Vodafone Qatar announced to open IPO subscription on 12 April 12 and close 26 April. The mobile operator aims to raise $929 by listing 338.16 million shares, representing 40 percent of Vodafone Qatar's authorised share capital.

DUBAI STOCK MARKET CLOSES LOWER: Dubai's stock market DFM closed slightly lower (off 0.27 percent) at 1,620.60 points. Although 12 advancing shares (with top gainer Tabreed gaining 14.93 percent) outnumbered nine losers (five stock closed steady), a number of heavyweights posted losses such as Bank Emirates NBD (off 2.37 percent) or Arabtec (2.11 percent lower) and dragged the market lower. According to EFG Hermes, the government of Dubai government is set to receive AED1.54 billion in dividends for 2008 from its holdings in six listed companies on both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges. Volumes remained high with some 685m shares changing hands. However, international investments are expected to decline in the coming days with Easter Holidays starting this Friday and lasting until April 13.

POLL: EXPATS UNDETERRED BY DOWNTURN: Results of a regional online poll conducted by employment website company Bayt.com showed that 36 percent of expatriate professionals said they see no reason to leave their host country despite the downturn, while 15 percent said they prefer to move back home. A further 28 percent feel they have no choice but to return to their home countries, and 21 percent said they would consider moving to a new country. The region-wide poll had 22,708 respondents.

KSA MARKET CONSOLIDATES GAINS: For the first time since January 13 2009, Riyadh's Tadawul returned above the 5,000 barrier, closing 0.7 percent higher at 5,000.95 points.