Dubai's bourse edged down on Thursday as investors focused on the listing of retail and restaurants start-up Marka, while Saudi Arabia's index rebounded from a one-month low and other markets in the region were mixed. Marka shares jumped 59 percent - having doubled in price at one point - as they listed on Thursday in the first flotation on the emirate's main stock market since 2009. They dominated trading volume on the bourse.
-- Egypt's Ezz Steel falls after reporting H1 loss
Dubai's main index, which does not yet include Marka, pulled back 0.2 percent. Thursday was the last day on which institutional investors could sell stocks on the market in order to raise cash and subscribe for the much bigger initial public offer of Emaar Malls Group, a subsidiary of Dubai's largest listed real estate developer, Emaar Properties. Subscription closes on Friday and sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the institutional tranche had been subscribed 7.5 times at the top end of the 2.50-2.90 dirham price range.
Institutional investors were net sellers of stocks on Thursday, according to bourse data. Abu Dhabi's bourse edged up 0.3 percent in low-volume trading. Shares in major lender National Bank of Abu Dhabi rose 1.0 percent and smaller United Arab Bank, a less liquid stock, jumped 7.7 percent. Qatar's index edged down 0.4 percent as much activity focused on the shares of property developer Ezdan Holding. The stock, which added 0.2 percent, is not part of the main index but will join it next month.
Saudi Arabia's bourse edged up 0.4 percent after falling 2.6 percent to a one-month low in the two previous sessions on news that the kingdom's largest lender, National Commercial Bank (NCB), will float in October, which will temporarily suck liquidity from the market. Food maker Savola Group was one of the main supports, adding 2.1 percent after Egyptian newspaper Alborsa reported that the company was no longer seeking to take over Egyptian baker Bisco Misr, which has also been approached by US-based Kellogg Co and Abraaj Investment Management.
However, Bisco Misr said in a bourse statement that it had not received any notification on the withdrawal of any companies that had expressed an intention to bid for it. Egypt's benchmark edged down 0.2 percent, largely because of brokers EFG Hermes and Pioneers Holding, which fell 3.5 and 4.1 percent respectively. Ezz Steel fell 1.4 percent after the company posted a first-half net loss of 176 million Egyptian pounds ($24.6 million) on Thursday, compared with a net profit of 302 million pounds a year earlier.
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