The Saudi stock market jumped on Sunday after the weekend appointment of a prominent businessman as labour minister, a move widely welcome by the private sector. Ahmed bin Suleiman al-Rajhi is expected to create a friendlier business environment, enhance communication between the public and the private sectors and help support small and medium enterprises, economists said.
The Saudi exchange closed up 2 percent, with banking stocks Samba Financial Group and Al Rajhi Bank rising 4.7 percent and 5.2 percent respectively. The new minister is a son of the founder of Al Rajhi.
The best performer was dairy firm Almarai, which jumped 8.5 percent. The Gulf's largest dairy company announced last week it aims to spend 10.6 billion riyals ($2.83 billion) under a five-year business plan. In Dubai, the index gained 0.8 percent, lifted by a 2.1 percent surge by blue-chip Emaar Properties and a 2.8 percent gain by Dubai Islamic Bank.
According to a monthly Reuters poll of leading Middle East fund managers published on Thursday, sentiment is shifting in favour of United Arab Emirates equities after their poor performance so far this year.
In Abu Dhabi the index shed 0.9 percent, with TAQA plunging 8 percent in thin trade. The stock has been volatile after soaring earlier this year on rising oil prices. Real estate firms Aldar Properties and RAK Properties were down 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.
In Qatar, the index climbed 0.6 percent, lifted by Qatar Gas Transport, which jumped 7.5 percent. The stock has been under pressure since mid-March as focus shifted to other Qatari listed names benefiting from an increase in foreign ownership limits, said QNB in a research note.
An MSCI downgrade of the stock to its small-cap index took effect at the end of May, but Sunday's gains suggested selling related to that had largely finished.
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