Most Gulf markets extend slide on global cues

Weak oil prices hit Saudi stocks; Dubai holds up

DUBAI, April 15, (RTRS): Most Gulf bourses extended declines on Monday as losses in global stock markets and commodities prices spurred investors to take profits. Kuwait’s market slipped after a prominent opposition politician was sentenced to five years in jail.

Weak oil prices hurt Saudi Arabia, where better-than-expected earnings failed to boost stocks. Saudi Cement posted a first-quarter net profit of 340.3 million riyals ($90.7 million), up from 325.6 million riyals a year ago and above an average analyst forecast of 308.8 million riyals, but its stock closed flat.

Saudi Kayan lost 0.9 percent. The firm posted a loss for the first quarter of 155 million riyals, wider than 71 million riyals a year earlier. That was better than analysts’ average forecast of a 182 million riyal loss, but NBK Capital cut the stock to a hold from a buy, and the market’s petrochemical index fell 1.2 percent.

The Saudi benchmark index fell 0.7 percent, losing ground for a third session since last week’s 11-month peak.

Brent crude oil sank below $101 a barrel to a nine-month low. Commodities led a sharp, broad decline in global risk assets as weaker-thanexpected Chinese data added to concerns raised by US data about the world economic outlook.

Abu Dhabi’s bourse fell 0.9 percent, down from Sunday’s 41-month high. Dubai’s benchmark fared relatively well, falling just 0.4 percent, which trimmed its 2013 gains to 21.3 percent.

“The Q1 results catalyst is going to help the UAE (United Arab Emirates) maintain its levels until there is further positive sentiment across global markets,” said Marwan Shurrab, vice-pres- ident and chief trader at Gulfmena Investments.

Dubai Islamic Bank fell 4.3 percent after posting on Sunday an estimate-beating 17 percent rise in profit, which some investors had apparently foreseen — the stock rose sharply last week.

In Kuwait, the index, which hit a 26-month closing high on Thursday, dipped 0.2 percent.

A court found Musallam al-Barrak, an outspoken former member of parliament, guilty of insulting Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah in a speech in October last year in which he appealed to the emir to avoid “autocratic rule”.

Some investors saw this a cue to take profits because it recalled political tensions late last year that prompted street protests and the storming of parliament by opposition activists — though overt conflict between parliament and the cabinet has eased since December’s elections, and it is not clear that Monday’s sentencing will worsen tensions.

“The political scene has once again regressively impacted the market,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House.

“I suspect there was support from the National Portfolio Fund to steady the market,” he added, in reference to a government fund which was set up to support the bourse during slumps.

The NPF is believed to have increased its participation in the market after the index hit an eight-year low last November. The index is now up 23.7 percent from that low, partly on signs that big economic development projects are proceeding after long delays due to political conflict.

Small-caps led the day’s declines, while large-caps — often the targets of the NPF — rose. National Bank of Kuwait and Kuwait Finance House climbed 2.2 and 1.3 percent.

Elsewhere, Egypt’s measure lost 0.5 percent. The Egyptian market has rebounded sharply in the past several days on news of fresh aid to Cairo from Qatar and Libya, and in hopes of a loan deal with the International Monetary Fund.

Diplomats said late on Sunday, however, that no IMF deal was likely this week at least because Cairo was stalling on the terms of the loan.

Saudi Arabia

The index declined 0.7 percent to 7,146 points.

Dubai

The index declined 0.4 percent to 1,968 points.

Abu Dhabi

The index fell 0.9 percent to 3,105 points.

Kuwait

The index slipped 0.2 percent to 6,952 points.

Qatar

The index declined 0.6 percent to 8,333 points.

Egypt

The index retreated 0.5 percent to 5,275 points.

Oman

The index gained 0.3 percent to 6,281 points.

Bahrain

The index slipped 0.4 percent to 1,088 points.

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