First Abu Dhabi Bank's Foreign-ownership Change Lifts Abu Dhabi Stocks

Stocks in Abu Dhabi reached their highest since September 2014 after the main gauge’s largest constituent implemented a decision to raise its foreign ownership limit.

First Abu Dhabi Bank shares advanced 5 percent, the most in a month.

The raised cap for foreigners could trigger passive inflows of about $730 million from investors tracking MSCI and FTSE Russell benchmarks by June, according to estimates by Mohamad Al Hajj, an equities strategist at EFG-Hermes in Dubai.

“FAB’s weight in the MSCI Emerging Markets index will increase from about 21 basis points to 32 basis points, putting it in the Top 15 banks in EM by weight, from number 33 currently,” he wrote.