Most Gulf stock markets fell on Wednesday as oil remained volatile, but Saudi Arabia resumed its rally. Egypt's Orascom Construction tumbled in Dubai as Egyptian investors appeared to sell the stock to acquire hard currency. The main Saudi benchmark edged up 0.5 percent on late buying as the price of Brent crude oil rebounded towards $57 per barrel, after hitting a one-month low below $56.
The index closed exactly on its 200-day average of 9,662 points, a strong technical resistance level. Oil's rebound allowed the petrochemicals sector to recover from early losses and close flat, while other stocks climbed. Mecca developer Jabal Omar was the main support, surging 8.5 percent to an all-time closing high of 83.50 riyals. The company, which has become an investor favourite after swinging to profit in the last two quarters, will hold its annual meeting on Thursday.
Al Rajhi Company for Co-operative Insurance surged its daily 10 percent limit to 29.80 riyals after announcing a rights issue that would double its capital. The firm said it would offer shares to existing shareholders at their nominal price of 10.00 riyals. A number of other insurance stocks also rose.
Qatar's index fell 1.1 percent as Ooredoo dropped 3.8 percent after it reported an 89 percent slump in fourth-quarter net profit on Tuesday, widely missing estimates because of foreign exchange losses in Indonesia and higher costs in its Myanmar and Algerian businesses. Ooredoo made a net profit of 55 million riyals ($15.1 million) in the three months to December 31, well below the views of two analysts polled by Reuters, who had forecast 602.4 million riyals and 607.8 million riyals.
Qatar Gas Transport Co tumbled 5.6 percent as it went ex-dividend and was another major drag on the market. Qatar International Islamic Bank, which will register shareholders for its own dividend next week, edged up 0.5 percent. Dubai's index fell 1.5 percent with most stocks in the red and Abu Dhabi slipped 0.3 percent. Trading volumes in both emirates were well below their 90-day averages.
Oman's bourse fell 0.9 percent as local banks extended losses after three lenders earlier this week cut their cash dividends on the central bank's advice - a sign that the central bank may be concerned about the possibility of banking system liquidity tightening because of low oil prices. National Bank of Oman and Bank Muscat, down 2.9 and 2.1 percent, were the main drags. Both have yet to pay 2014 dividends but have not announced any changes to their proposed amounts so far.
Egypt's market fell 1.4 percent as all but a few stocks declined. Local newspaper Ahram Online reported fresh fuel shortages in the country; it said the petroleum ministry had promised to inject large amounts of petroleum products into the market to address the issue. Also, Orascom Telecom posted a 76.4 percent drop in 2014 net profit on Wednesday, a day after Telecom Egypt also posted a decline in earnings. Orascom Telecom dropped 4.0 percent.
However, Commercial International Bank edged up 0.7 percent after saying it was carrying out a due diligence process on Citigroup's books that could lead to the purchase of Citi's Egyptian retail portfolio. Orascom Construction briefly jumped to 110.45 pounds as it started trading in Cairo but then fell to 106.35 pounds, below its public offer price of 108.71 pounds ($14.25). On NASDAQ Dubai, where it is quoted in dollars and began trading on Monday, the stock was much weaker on Wednesday, tumbling 7.7 percent to $13.02.
Egypt restricts foreign currency trading and has a parallel black market where the pound trades below the official rate. Some traders speculated that Egyptian investors who bought the stock for Egyptian pounds in its Cairo public offer, which raised the equivalent of $185 million, might now be selling it in Dubai to obtain hard currency. "That's a good possibility," said Sanyalak Manibhandu, manager of research at NBAD Securities in Abu Dhabi. "People who bought into the stock must be reasonably sophisticated and understand arbitrage."
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