Dubai stocks rally as rest of Gulf slides

dubai — Most Gulf stock markets were weak on Wednesday as another slide in Doha Bank pulled down Qatar, but Dubai rose on the back of gains in a few stocks.

The Dubai index climbed 0.8 per cent, bouncing from a 10week low, although gaining stocks only marginally outnumbered losers by 15 to 14. The index has closed lower in six of the last eight sessions.

Shares in courier Aramex added 7.0 per cent and theme park operator DXB Entertainments, the most heavily traded stock, jumped 6.1 per cent. “This is all about momentum trading and short-term technical signals, in lieu of fundamental changes,” said a Dubai-based trader.

The Dubai-listed shares of Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group, which went ex-dividend at the end of last week, rose 3.7 per cent after Bahrain’s central bank rejected the company’s recommendation to increase the dividend for 2016 to 12 per cent; the investment firm will distribute 10 per cent instead. Its less liquid Bahrain-listed shares fell 0.8 per cent.

Abu Dhabi’s index, which traded higher for most of the session, closed flat. Union National Bank added 1.2 per cent but First Gulf Bank fell 0.7 per cent. In Qatar, the index was dragged 0.5 per cent lower as Doha Bank slumped 8.8 per cent to 32.0 riyals. It had dropped its 10 per cent daily limit on Tuesday after it went ex-dividend.

Telecommunications operators were also weak; Ooredoo lost 4.4 per cent and Vodafone Qatar fell 1.3 per cent. The Qatari index is down 0.6 per cent year-to-date.

Saudi Arabia’s index edged down 0.3 per cent with sell orders accelerating in the final hour. The index has been trading in a very narrow range over the last week.

The largest Islamic retail bank, Al Rajhi, lost 1.2 per cent. But Banque Saudi Fransi added 0.2 per cent after Reuters reported, citing sources, that French bank Credit Agricole had picked JPMorgan to help in a potential sale of its 31 per cent stake in the Saudi lender, valued at nearly $2.4 billion.

Egypt’s index rose 0.5 per cent as El Sewedy Electric rose 4.1 per cent after saying it was in preliminary talks with Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co to build two electricity distribution plants. — Reuters