Saudi banks down on 9/11 lawsuit

Real estate weighs on Abu Dhabi

DUBAI, April 16, (RTRS): Saudi Arabia’s two largest listed banks were the main drag on the index on Sunday on news that US insurers have filed a lawsuit against the lenders over the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, while real estate shares and troubled Dana Gas weighed on Abu Dhabi.

Shares of Al Rajhi Bank dropped 2.3 percent and, National Commercial Bank (NCB) lost 2.4 percent after the lawsuit was filed late on Wednesday in the US District Court in Manhattan, by more than two dozen US insurers affiliated with Travelers Cos, in the latest effort to hold entities in Saudi Arabia liable for the attacks.

The two banks, and companies affiliated with Osama bin Laden’s family and several charities are being sued for at least $4.2 billion.

Ten other banks also dipped, helping drag the index 1.0 percent lower.

NCB is expected to report firstquarter results on Monday.

In Abu Dhabi, shares of Dana Gas, dropped 4.4 percent in very high volume after the board’s Thursday meeting showed the company was still under “severe” cash constraint from the unearned receivables from Egypt. In February Dana Gas said the amount owed by Egypt was $265 million as of Dec 31, 2016.

“It seems the troubles of the gas explorer are not going to go away any time soon, and continued delayed payments and unstable dynamics in the energy sector will keep investors away from this stock for now,” said a Dubaibased equities portfolio manager.

Dana’s board also considered the restructuring of its Islamic bond.

Shares of real estate developers, which were the main drag on the benchmark at the end of last week, continued to weigh on the index as investors cashed out on disappointment over the softening of property prices in the emirate in the first quarter.

Average sales prices of apartments fell 1 percent and villa prices dropped 9 percent in the three months ending March 31 compared with the last quarter of 2016, according to a report by property consultants Chestertons.

Shares of the largest listed developer Aldar Properties fell 2.7 percent and are now down 5.3 percent since last Sunday. The index fell 0.6 percent. Elsewhere, shares of National Bank of Kuwait rose 1.5 percent after reporting an 8.1 percent rise in first quarter net profit to 85.4 million dinars ($280.78 million), slightly above two analysts’ estimates of 83.3 million dinars and 84.0 million dinars.

The bank attributed the rise in net profit to higher net interest income and income from Islamic financing as a result of strong growth in business volumes.

The index on which it trades, however, declined 0.6 percent. Kuwait Projects Company dropped 3.5 percent.

Dubai’s index extended Thursday’s 0.9 percent decline and dropped 1.6 percent, its largest single day decline since Feb 13, as 32 shares retreated and only two rose.

Shares of construction-related companies slumped; Arabtec , the most traded share of the day, sank 9.7 percent while shares of Drake & Scull retreated 7.3 percent.

Most foreign fund managers were absent from the session on Sunday because of the Easter holiday.

Egypt’s bourse was closed for Easter Sunday.

Saudi Arabia

The index fell 1.0 percent to 7,005 points.

Dubai

The index retreated 1.6 percent to 3,453 points.

Abu Dhabi

The index declined 0.6 percent to 4,489 points.

Qatar

The index edged down 0.2 percent to 10,431 points.

Kuwait

The index fell 0.6 percent to 6,969 points.

Oman

The index edged down 0.4 percent to 5,551 points.

Bahrain

The index fell 0.9 percent to 1,345 points.