Saudi hits one-month high

Global Telecom drags Egypt down

RIYADH, Dec 2, (RTRS): Saudi Arabia’s stock market closed on Sunday at its highest level since early November amid solid gains by a number of blue chips, while Egypt’s bourse closed in negative territory, dragged down by Global Telecom’s huge losses.

United Arab Emirates markets were closed for a public holiday while other Gulf markets were mixed in lacklustre trade.

The Saudi index jumped 1.8 percent, recording its highest level since Nov 4 as Al Rajhi Bank rose 2.5 percent, and petrochemical giant SABIC added 2.2 percent.

Alinma Bank surged 6.0 percent after proposing a 1.0 riyals ($0.26) dividend for 2018, up from 0.8 riyal for 2017.

Out of 180 Saudi stocks traded, 162 advanced and only 13 declined.

In Egypt, the main index fell 1.3 percent amid a wide sell-off with only two of its 30 stocks advancing. Commercial International Bank fell 1.9 percent.

Global Telecom, one of the most heavily traded stocks in the market, was the main drag, plummeting 12.4 percent after its board approved increasing issued capital by 11.18 billion pounds ($625.5 million) through issuing 19.28 billion new shares.

In Qatar, the index lost 0.5 percent on big declines by banking stocks, with losers outnumbering gainers by 23 to 17.

Qatar National Bank lost 1.3 percent and Qatar Islamic Bank fell 1.6 percent, Qatar Commercial Bank went down 2.1 percent and Masraf Al Rayan lost 1.1 percent.

Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain were flat.

Saudi Arabia

The index jumped 1.8 percent to 7,845 points.

Qatar

The index fell 0.5 percent to 10,317 points.

Kuwait

The index was flat at 5,318 points.

Egypt

The index fell 1.3 percent to 13,150 points.

Bahrain

The index edged up 0.2 percent to 1,332 points.

Oman

The index was flat at 4,418 points.