The United Arab Emirates' stock market regulator said on Saturday it had approved regulations authorising margin trading on the Gulf Arab country's stock markets in a move to attract further investments.

The new rules will take effect after co-ordination with the Dubai bourse and the Abu Dhabi securities exchange, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) said in a statement.

This would happen four months after the regulations are published in the official gazette, the statement said.

'This step would win more of the dealers' trust in the market and attract more investments,' the authority's director Abdullah al-Turaifi, said in the statement.-Reuters