Dubai, Egypt bourses at 5-month high on property, telecom boost

JEDDAH: Dubai’s index rose to a five-month high on Thursday as real estate-linked stocks helped extend a rally that started in late January, and Egypt’s bourse hit a similar level, buoyed by telecom shares.

The Kuwaiti stock market closed on a mixed note this week. The index rose 0.2 percent to 5,864 points on Thursday.

The price index traded horizontally gaining 0.13 percent and closing at 5,864 points, according to a report from the Kuwait Financial Center. (Markaz).

The weighted index in Kuwait was slightly negative, down 0.28 percent and closing at 403.37 points.

Liquidity and activity levels improved during the week. Value traded grew by 4.2 percent.

The market is without a catalyst, Fadi Al-said, head of investments at ING Investment Management, told Reuters.

For example, he said, banks were trading at a premium and lacked any positive news to justify further buying.

During the week, Markaz said the Kuwait market traded 1.73 billion shares.

Dubai’s benchmark rose 0.3 percent on Thursday to its highest close since Sept. 7, extending its gains to about 9.9 percent this year, after falling 17 percent in 2011.

“This kind of performance will gain the attention of both regional and international investors,” said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president at Gulfmena Investments, told Reuters adding that the Dubai bourse is one of the best performing emerging markets in 2012.

Volumes have also picked up in recent days, Shurrab added. The number of shares traded crossed the 200 million mark for only the second time since June 7 — the other time being Monday.

Arabtec’s advance has been a key driver of the index. The contractor climbed another 3 percent on Thursday, taking it year-todate gain to 67.3 percent.

National Central Cooling Co. (Tabreed) touched a seven-week high, gaining 6.3 percent, as did Shuaa Capital, which jumped 13.5 percent. The investment firm

Dubai’s benchmark rose 0.3 percent on Thursday

to its highest close since Sept. 7, extending

its gains to about 9.9 percent this year, after falling 17 percent

in 2011.

is due to publish its full-year results on Jan. 13.

In Egypt, telecom stocks pushed a rally into its third day, spurred by news that Orascom Telecom Media (OTMT) and France Telecom were in talks over the future of their Mobinil cellphone venture. Mobinil founder and biggest Egyptian shareholder Naguib Sawiris sold most of his worldwide telecom assets to Russia’s Vimpelcom last year but kept his Mobinil stake by splitting it off into a new company, OTMT.

“It’s telecom euphoria triggered by Mobinil and OTMT,” said Mohamed Radwan of Pharos Securities. “Both were limit up early in the session, and they’re both pulling up the index.”

OTMT jumped 6.9 percent and Mobinil surged 10 percent, while the index advanced 0.9 percent to its highest level since Sept. 8. The index has gained 4.7 percent since Monday.

Orascom Telecom gained 3.1 percent.

In Abu Dhabi, property firms helped lift the index 0.1 percent.

Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate accounted for nearly 65 percent of all shares traded, gaining 3.2 and 3.4 percent respectively.

In Kuwait, the index gained 0.2 percent, with trading volumes just shy of their highest level in 13 months.

However, the market is without a catalyst, said Fadi Al Said, head of investments at ING Investment Management, who noted that banks, for example, were trading at a premium and lacked any positive news to justify further buying.

The Oman index dipped into marginally- negative territory, down 0.02 percent, with banks the main drag.

Bank Muscat, the bourse’s largest stock by market capitalization, fell 1.1 percent, while Bank Sohar and Oman International Bank dropped 1.3 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

In Qatar, the index inched down 0.01 percent. Qatar Electricity and Water Co, which on Wednesday announced it had brought a stake in a Jordanian power plant, slipped 0.5 percent.

The Markaz report said this week’s traded value on the Kuwait bourse was derived from activities on the investment sector 38.7 percent contribution, followed by services and real estate with 27.3 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

HITS Telecom Holding attracted 15.7 percent of the value traded (KD24.6 million); the stock closed up 21.2 percent at KD0.120 Al-madina For Finance and Investment was second on the most active list with 9.9 percent of this week’s value traded or KD15.58 million. Stock’s performance was positive (17.4 percent) at KD 0.081.

Markaz said 137 companies were traded during the week out of which 43 closed positive, 69 were negative and 25 unchanged.

Real Estate Trade Center was the biggest gainer by booking a return of 42.9 percent and closing at 70 fils; 4.5 million shares were traded valued at KWD 289,680.

On the other side of the spectrum, Al-aman Investments was the biggest loser; the stock declined by 14.7 percent to 29 fils. The report said 13.5.million shares worth KD422,400 were traded during this week.