Narrow trade as Saudi bourse steadies

The Saudi stock market stabilised yesterday as it traded in a narrow range and ended 0.1 per cent lower to 7,658 points.

Shares in National Commercial Bank, which had jumped on buying by funds on Tuesday, retreated 3.5 per cent. But top petrochemical producer Saudi Basic Industries rose 1.5 per cent.

Yamama Cement fell 0.5 per cent after posting a loss for the third quarter as sales dropped because of steep price declines in the domestic market. But Al Jouf Cement rose 0.9 per cent after agreeing to sell cement and clinker to Sanad Trading and Marketing.

Middle East Paper climbed 1.6 per cent after signing a credit facility worth 100 million riyals with Bank Albilad on Tuesday.

The Egyptian blue-chip index rose 0.9 per cent to 13,816 points as Edita Food Industries jumped 7.7 per cent and Egyptian Resorts gained 5.2 per cent.

Dubai’s index added 0.5 per cent to 2,742 points, helped by property companies, with Emaar Development up 2.4 per cent. Dubai Islamic Insurance advanced 3.2 per cent after saying it was raising its foreign ownership ceiling to 49 per cent from 25 per cent.

The Abu Dhabi index rose 0.5 per cent to 4,957 points.

In Kuwait, the index inched up 0.2 per cent to 5,181 points. The Bahrain index added 0.1 per cent to 1,313 points. In Oman, the index was up 0.03 per cent to 4,453 points.

Meanwhile, emerging market stocks hit one-week highs as a strong start to the US corporate earnings season encouraged investors to take on more risk after a sell-off last week. A grind higher for the dollar kept the MSCI index of major emerging currencies under pressure, with South Africa’s rand near a two-week low and the rouble and Turkish lira struggling to hold on to early gains.

Emerging market currencies have also sunk this year, led by Turkey’s lira, as rising US interest rates pulled capital back into the dollar and worries about global growth and trade unnerved investors.

The Turkish lira dipped a day after data showed industrial production grew at its slowest in almost two years in August.

A Reuters poll showed Turkish economic growth was expected to fall short of sharply lowered government forecasts this year and next, with a recession now likely.