Most stock markets in the Middle East gained on Monday, led by Dubai, where construction firm Arabtec Holding rose sharply after a key shareholder bought a stake in a major Egyptian property developer. Dubai's index jumped 2.8 percent, its biggest daily gain in three weeks, as Arabtec, which dominated trading volumes, surged 8.8 percent.
-- Saudi banks lead recovery as investors get NCB IPO refunds
Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, a major shareholder in Arabtec, bought a 5.1 percent stake in Egypt's second-largest listed real estate developer Palm Hills on Sunday. "It shows there is a strong commitment (by the United Arab Emirates) to support the Egyptian economy, especially in the real estate sector," said Sebastien Henin, head of asset management at The National Investor in Abu Dhabi.
"We could imagine it might sooner or later benefit Arabtec, for example with a new project." Arabtec is already involved in a $40 billion project to build a million housing units in Egypt, the company's largest project to date. Abu Dhabi's benchmark rose 1.1 percent on the back of bluechips Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Aldar Properties, up 3.8 and 5.1 percent respectively.
Shares in investment firm Waha Capital, which posted strong third-quarter results on Sunday, jumped 5.5 percent to 3.08 dirhams and were the most heavily traded stock in the market. Waha made a net profit of 301.2 million dirhams ($82 million) in the quarter, up from 107.1 million dirhams in the year-ago period. On Sunday, the stock surged 7.0 percent, breaking technical resistance at 2.85 dirhams, the late October peak. This triggered a bullish right triangle formed by the highs and lows since mid-October and pointing up to 3.16 dirhams. It faces strong resistance at 3.20-3.28 dirhams, the September and July peaks.
Qatar's index gained 0.7 percent and Qatar National Bank, which at the end of last week secured a weighting increase in MSCI's emerging markets index, was the main support, climbing 1.4 percent. Saudi Arabia's index rose 1.1 percent, largely on the back of the banking sector. Al Rajhi Bank, the country's largest listed lender, rose 1.2 percent and Samba Financial Group, the third-largest bank by assets, jumped 3.1 percent.
Weak oil prices are keeping investors away from petrochemicals, and a shock restatement of 18 months of earnings by Mobily last week dampened demand for all telecommunications firms, making banks the most attractive Saudi sector for now, said Henin from The National Investor. "A lot of cash came back to the market after the end of National Commercial Bank IPO and I guess they are looking for investment opportunities," he said.
The kingdom's biggest bank completed its 22.5 billion riyal ($6 billion) share offer last week with the retail portion 23 times subscribed. Banks who had run the deal returned excess funds to investors on Sunday. Egypt's benchmark added 0.9 percent, largely on the back of Commercial International Bank (CIB), which gained 2.8 percent. Cairo-based Naeem brokerage said it expected CIB to publish its third-quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday and maintained a "buy" recommendation.
Kuwait's index edged down 0.7 percent as heavyweight Burgan Bank dropped 3.8 percent after saying it would open subscriptions for a 102.6 million dinar ($353 million) rights issue next Sunday, a move which will dilute the existing shares. Oman's bourse added 0.3 percent and shares in Oman Telecommunications were up 0.6 percent after it reported a 3.1 percent rise in third-quarter profit on Monday, meeting analysts' expectations.
Comments
Comments are closed.