Middle East mixed; oil lifts Riyadh
dubai — Middle Eastern stock markets were mixed on Monday with Saudi Arabia rising on the back of a rebound in oil prices and a continued slide by amusement park operator DXB Entertainments helping to drag down Dubai.
The Saudi index climbed 0.6 per cent. Top petrochemical producer Saudi Basic Industries, whose margins could benefit from higher oil prices, gained 0.5 per cent.
But PetroRabigh, which had tumbled its 10 per cent daily limit on Sunday after reporting a sharp widening of its quarterly loss, sank a further 5.4 per cent.
Dubai’s index slipped 1.1 per cent on a late wave of selling as DXB Entertainments sank 5.6 per cent to its lowest level since April 2015.
Abu Dhabi’s index dropped 0.6 per cent but Qatar rose 0.6 per cent on the back of several blue chips such as Doha Bank, up 1.3 per cent, and Barwa Real Estate , which gained 1.4 per cent.
Kuwait was the best-performing market in the region, rising 0.7 per cent, while Egypt’s index edged down 0.04 per cent.
Qatar rose 0.6 per cent to 10,118 points, Bahrain edged up 0.1 per cent to 1,312 points and Oman dipped 0.1 per cent to 5,416 points. Meanwhile, a total of Dh18.4 billion of first-quarter profits were reported by 92 companies listed at the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market, a growth of 13 per cent from Dh16.2 billion in the same period last year.
Fifty-five companies listed on the ADX posted profits of Dh10.7 billion, a growth of 27.3 per cent from Dh8.4 billion a year ago.
At the DFM, the total profits of 42 companies by the end of the period edged toward Dh7.7 billion, 1.2 per cent down from the same period last year.
The banking sector, represented by 19 national banks at the two markets, came first with a total of Dh9.7 billion, a 7.7 per cent rise from Dh9.00 billion.
Real estate came second with Dh3.6 billion in profits by 10 companies, 2.8 percent up from Dh3.55 billion. The telecommunications sector’s profits climbed to Dh2.45 billion, 1.2 per cent down from Dh2.48 billion. — Reuters/Wam