Gulf stocks rise but end week lower

Gulf stock markets rose at their close on Thursday, amid relative stability but were lower at the end of a week that saw high volatility in the seven bourses of the oil-rich region. Dubai bourse led the modest recovery following a string of assurances from officials about the foreign debt situation and after a leading property company paid 650 million dollars of its debt.
Mohammad al-Abbar, the head of a task force set up by Dubai to tackle the impact of the global economic crisis, had said on Monday that total debt owed by the emirate and its companies amounted to 80 billion dollars.
Dubai Holding, a leading property developer in the United Arab Emirates which owns Burj Al-Arab luxury hotel, said it has repaid bonds and bank loans worth 2.4 billion dirhams (653 million dollars). The market value of the seven bourses further dropped to under 600 billion dollars during the week. They have sustained a total loss of around 370 billion dollars since October and 520 billion dollars on the year.
The Dubai Financial Market finished trading up three percent at 1,928.94 points on the back of sharp gains by real estate companies. Market leader, Emaar rose 9.8 percent while leading construction firm Arabtec gained 15 percent for the second day in a row.
But the DFM Index ended the week down 4.1 percent and is still a massive 67.5 percent lower than the start of the year. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange closed up 1.3 percent at 2,720.84 points as the leading real estate, banks and telecoms sectors made handsome gains. The market however finished the week 3.95 percent lower and is about 40 percent down on the year.
The Kuwait Stock Exchange, the second biggest Arab bourse, finished the day up 1.3 percent at 8,728.10 points on the back of a 4.2 percent rise by the leading banking sector. The KSE Index however ended the week 1.7 percent lower and is down 30.5 percent on the year.
Doha Securities Market rose 2.5 percent to 5,724.72 points but ended the week 1.5 percent lower. The small Bahrain Stock Exchange gained 0.7 percent. The Saudi market, the largest in the region, is closed on Thursday for the weekend, while the tiny Muscat Securities Market is closed for a public holiday.