Thursday, 17 September 2015 01:16
DUBAI: Most Gulf stock markets rose on Wednesday, moving in line with oil prices and global equities. Egypt’s bourse extended its rally as investors bought beaten-down stocks, hoping that the market had bottomed out.
Dubai’s index climbed 1.8 percent and property developer DAMAC was the most traded stock, jumping 2.0 percent after its shareholders approved the firm’s first cash dividend since it listed in Dubai in January.
DAMAC will pay investors 0.1 dirham per share in cash and make a 10 percent bonus share issue.
Abu Dhabi’s index rose 0.7 percent with most stocks positive. Energy firms Dana Gas and Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. jumped 6.0 and 2.0 percent respectively after oil prices rose on an unexpected US stockpile draw.
Qatar’s bourse added 0.5 percent and leading lender Qatar National Bank (QNB) was the main support, rising 1.8 percent to 190.00 riyals. QNB this week became the first Qatari lender to secure a license from Saudi Arabia allowing it to open a branch in the kingdom.
Also, QNB has emerged as a potential buyer of the Malaysian business of Kuwait Finance House.
“QNB remains our top pick in Qatar given its ongoing superior profitability, better earnings visibility, and advantage in terms of its ability to control the cost of funds,” NBK Capital said in a note, recommending the stock as a “buy” with a target price of 222.80 riyals.
SAUDI, EGYPT
Saudi Arabia’s main index had also risen in line with oil initially, but gave up all gains by the end of the day and closed 0.3 percent lower.
The cement sector fell 0.6 percent after local investment firm NCB Capital said in a report that cement sales could fall 5 percent next year due to government spending cuts.
Meanwhile, telecommunications operator Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) jumped 3.3 percent after Bloomberg reported that it planned to sell its towers for at least $ 1.7 billion in
the first quarter of 2016. The company has not made any official announcements on the report. It said in July it was still studying a potential sale.
Egypt’s benchmark index climbed 1.3 percent and Telecom Egypt surged 8.3 percent after brokerage Prime Holding said the stock had an upside potential of 115 percent, recommending it as a “buy”.
Most other stocks also advanced, and bourse data showed that non-Egyptian Arab investors were the main net buyers on the market.
Some analysts have said they expected Egypt’s central bank to cut interest rates at a meeting on Thursday, but three of five economists surveyed by Reuters on Tuesday said it would leave rates unchanged, balancing efforts to control inflation with attempts to stimulate its struggling economy.
On the other hand, two economists expected the central bank to cut rates by 50 basis points.
