DFM rebounds on earnings results
Dubai’s stock market rebounded yesterday, supported by real estate shares and corporate earnings, as Saudi rallied on the back of financial stocks.
Dubai’s index rose 0.5 per cent to 2,674 points, with Emirates NBD gaining 0.9 per cent, while Emaar Properties was up 1 per cent a day after reporting a 20 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit. The profit came despite a prolonged slowdown in the emirate’s property sector, where the supply glut has sent residential prices sliding by at least a quarter since mid-2014.
Emaar Development, the arm of the company that carries out its project work, advanced 3.9 per cent. On Sunday, it reported nine-month net profit of Dh2.07 billion. Air Arabia added 2.1 per cent, as the third-quarter net profit of the UAE’s only listed airline jumped 57 per cent, which it attributed to a 10 per cent rise in passengers carried from its hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt.
In Saudi Arabia, the benchmark index was up 0.6 per cent to 7,908 points, with Al Rajhi Bank rising 0.5 per cent and Saudi Basic Industries increasing 1.3 per cent, in its fifth day of gains. Saudi Aramco in its initial public offering prospectus said it expected to close its acquisition of Sabic in the first half of next year. Saudi Arabian Amiantit soared 9.9 per cent, its biggest gain since May. The company said it had reduced its accumulated losses to 1.4 per cent of its capital.
In Abu Dhabi, the index extended the losses for a straight fourth day to close 0.1 per cent lower, as lender Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank slid 0.9 per cent and First Abu Dhabi Bank was down 0.1 per cent. Dana Gas jumped 4 per cent. The energy company said on Sunday its collections from Egypt, the UAE and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq increased 16.7 per cent to $230 million (Dh844.7m) in the nine-month period.
Egypt’s blue-chip index ended 0.2 per cent lower, as the country’s largest lender, Commercial International Bank, slipped 0.4 per cent and El Sewedy Electric declined 2.2 per cent. The latter reported third-quarter net profit of 829 million Egyptian pounds (Dh188.7m), compared with 1.13 billion Egyptian pounds a year earlier.
The Oman index rose 0.8 per cent to 4,072 points and the Kuwait index edged up 0.1 per cent to 6,257 points.