Thursday, 19 March 2015 17:41
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s bourse most mostly stable and Egypt rose in early trade on Thursday as a dovish U.S. Federal Reserve statement boosted global equities and oil traded off its Wednesday lows.
Saudi Arabia’s main stock index slipped 0.2 percent, as Savola Group tumbled 8.9 percent to 70.50 riyals after slashing its first-quarter net profit forecast to 178 million riyals ($ 47.5 million) before capital gains from 360 million riyals.
It blamed the revision on lower-than-expected retail sales and currency devaluations in some foreign markets. The stock broke chart support on its January low of 72.50 riyals and its next major support is at the December low of 63.50 riyals.
But other sectors were mostly positive; petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries rose 1.1 percent after a heavy sell-off in the two previous sessions.
Oil prices, which are used to set prices for many petrochemicals, jumped late on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signalled a slower pace of interest rate hikes.
Egypt’s index climbed 0.6 percent, as investment bank EFG Hermes rose 1.9 percent after posting a net profit of 706.99 million pounds ($ 92.67 million) for 2014 against a net loss of 334.98 million pounds in 2013.
Copyright Reuters, 2015
