Heaviest Saudi trading in six months

Most Middle East stock markets were sluggish yesterday, but Saudi Arabia’s index rebounded from technical support in its heaviest trading volume since June.

The Saudi index rose 0.9 per cent to 7,086 points, bouncing from near strong support around 7,000 points, where the peaks in late October and November roughly coincide with the 200-day average, now at 7,015 points.

The most heavily traded stock, the real estate firm Dar Al Arkan , climbed 8.3 per cent to 12.88 Saudi riyals in its heaviest trade since June. It has rocketed from around 7.50 riyals in mid-November, when MSCI said it was adding the stock to its Saudi Arabia Index.

Several petrochemical firms jumped, with Saudi Kayan soaring 9.9 per cent, Chemanol up 6.8 per cent and Petro Rabigh up 5 per cent. Amiantit jumped 9.7 per cent in its heaviest trade since 2012 after saying a 50 per cent-owned affiliate had won a five-year, 100 million riyal contract to manage water utility services in Jeddah.

In Dubai, the index edged down 0.03 per cent to 3,393 points.

Emaar Properties rebounded 2 per cent. but its unit Emaar Development continued to slide, falling 3.8 per cent to a record low of Dh5.34, compared to last month’s initial public offer price of Dh6.03.

In Abu Dhabi the ADX dropped 0.8 per cent to 4,277 points, despite Eshraq leading gainers with a rise of 5.9 per cent, followed by Abu Dhabi Aviation, up 3.3 per cent. The biggest faller was Kico, down 6.7 per cent, followed by Bildco, which closed down 4.4 per cent.

The Egytptian index slipped 0.3 per cent to 14,297 points, while Kuwait fell 0.2 per cent to 6,187 points.

Bahrain’s index closed up 0.2 per cent to 1,267 points and in Oman, the index fell 0.5 percent to 5,066 points.

On the oil markets, West Texas Intermediate for January delivery was at US$56.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 19 cents, at 1:24pm London time. Total volume traded was about 16 per cent below the 100-day average. Prices slid $1.66 to $55.96 on Wednesday.

Brent for February settlement advanced 40 cents to $61.62 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Europe exchange, after falling 2.6 per cent on Wednesday. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $5.41 to February WTI.