Most Gulf stock markets rose on Monday on hopes that Greece would avoid defaulting on its debt, but Saudi Arabia continued dropping after breaking technical support. Egypt fell after a major brokerage issued a bearish technical report. The chief of staff to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker tweeted that the latest proposal from Greece was a "good basis for progress". This helped to boost global stock prices and lift oil off its lows.
-- Saudi index stays weak after falling below 200-day average
-- Pharos Securities warns of bearish chart outlook in Egypt
Dubai's main index climbed 1.0 percent to 4,135 points as trading volume tripled from Sunday's very low level. The index rose above technical resistance on its 200-day average, now at 4,099 points. It has failed to break cleanly above the average three times since early May, and any clean break - at least two straight daily closes above that mark - would be a bullish signal.
Amlak Finance was the most heavily traded stock, rocketing its 15 percent daily limit. It has been swinging wildly and dominating activity since it resumed trading this month after a multi-year suspension due to a debt restructuring. Gulf Finance House, however, fell 1.5 percent after saying the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution had dismissed a suit which it had filed to recover $60 million. It said it would appeal the decision.
Abu Dhabi climbed 0.7 percent and Qatar was 0.8 percent higher. Ezdan Holding gained 3.0 percent; it has been rising since its foreign ownership ceiling was raised on Thursday to 49 percent from 25 percent. In Oman, Phoenix Power, owner of country's largest power plant, soared 36 percent from its initial public offer price to 0.148 rial on its first day of trade. Its IPO, the first public share sale in Oman since flotations last June of two power firms, had been massively oversubscribed.
Phoenix came off an intra-day high of 0.155 rial. Several local securities analysts had calculated fair-value estimates for the stock of between 0.129 and 0.144 rial. Gulf markets other than Saudi Arabia have been buoyed in recent days by the fact that the opening of the Saudi market to direct foreign investment on June 15 has so far drawn only tiny fund flows into the Riyadh bourse. This has eased fears that Saudi Arabia could suck funds from other markets.
The Saudi index fell 0.7 percent to 9,275 points on Monday, after dropping on Sunday below its 200-day average, now at 9,424 points - a bearish technical signal. Major losers on Monday once again included bluechips which local retail investors had hoped foreigners would buy in bulk. Miner Ma'aden slid 1.6 percent and Saudi Basic Industries edged down 0.1 percent. Saudi Automotive Services, which hit an eight-year closing high on Sunday, climbed a further 2.7 percent. It has surged more than 25 percent since announcing in May that it had obtained 150 million riyals ($40 million) of bank financing to buy land and build facilities. In Egypt, the index fell 0.5 percent in a broad-based decline, with property developer Talaat Mostafa losing 2.1 percent. Pharos Securities issued a report saying the market appeared to have been forming a peak since September and October 2014, and that there was a sizeable risk of a "significant market decline in the near future".
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