DUBAI: Shares in Dubai builder Arabtec soared on Wednesday ahead of the company's first news conference since last month's management reshuffle, helping markets in the United Arab Emirates rally strongly for a second day.

Dubai's main index jumped 7.9 percent, its biggest daily rise since last September, while Arabtec surged its 15 percent daily limit, recovering further from a slump that at one stage wiped out more than two-thirds of the stock's value.

Arabtec's jump supported a wider recovery in both UAE markets. Several other Dubai stocks went limit-up, including most heavily traded counter Union Properties, which on Tuesday forecast a fivefold increase in profit for the first half of this year.

Abu Dhabi's index jumped 5.0 percent, its biggest gain in a month. Blue chips National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank FGB.AD surged 6.5 and 6.9 percent respectively, while Aldar Properties soared 10.7 percent.

Qatar's market also continued its rally, rising 2.1 percent. Islamic lenders were the main supports: Qatar Islamic Bank QISB.QA surged 7.1 percent and Masraf Al Rayan jumped 3.0 percent.

Qatari companies are usually among the first ones in the Gulf to report quarterly earnings and will begin publishing them next week, so some investors are taking positions in the market ahead of that, market players say.

Kuwait's market rose 1.1 percent after a series of positive news items. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that private equity firms KKR & Co. LP and TPG Capital were among the groups looking to buy a majority stake in food retailer Kuwait Food Co.

The report said at least six groups were considering bidding for the stake held by the Kuwait-based billionaire Al-Kharafi family. Shares in Kuwait Food jumped 3.5 percent.

"This company is part of a huge group — the sale of one for a good price will translate into profits for all the others," said Fouad Abdulrahman Alhadlaq, deputy general manager at Al Dar Asset Management in Kuwait.