Egypt's bourse rose for a third day after renewed foreign interest on Tuesday as Gulf markets were mixed, with investors awaiting first-quarter results. Egypt's main index rose 3 percent on heavy appetite from local investors and renewed interest from foreigners, in a fifth day of trading following a shutdown of over seven weeks due to a popular revolt against former President Hosni Mubarak.
"People were expecting the market to fall much more, not realising that the market already shed some 25 percent pre-revolution," said Omar Darwish of CIBC Brokerage. "A further discount in the market post-revolution made stock prices attractive," he said. Orascom Telecom climbed 9.3 percent after the firm said it would seek shareholder approval for a capital increase and a split of the company.
Russia's Vimpelcom expects to complete its more than $6 billion deal for assets of Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, within a month, Vimpelcom's chief executive said on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia's benchmark rose for a seventh session in nine, with blue chips ending mixed. The real estate index hit a six-week high, extending gains on renewed speculation that a long-awaited mortgage law would be approved soon.
"Real estate stocks may have an effect for next two days on the mortgage law," said a Riyadh-based trader who asked not to be identified. "I would be cautious on real estate numbers. We could see some weakness. In the long-term, they are good, but people are short-term here."
The Saudi king has announced $93 billion in handouts, including $67 billion to be spent on 500,000 new homes, and a housing ministry was set up last week. Dubai's index gave back early-session gains, with Emaar Properties' surprise dividend providing only a short-term lift.
Emaar rose 0.3 percent after shareholders approved a surprising 10 percent cash dividend, its first since 2008. "Emaar wanted to preserve cash for a rainy day and it has some short-term refinancing risk we can't ignore," said Jad Abbas, EFG-Hermes real estate analyst.
The developer has debt worth 4.5 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) maturing in 2011, Abbas said. "We expect most of this to be rolled over," he said, adding that 2011 should be a relatively good year for the developer as it shifts towards its international operations. Abu Dhabi's index edged up, taking its March gains to 1.8 percent. Developers with Aldar and Sorouh Real Estate gained 1.3 and 3.3 percent respectively. Oman's index fell to a 12-day low after Renaissance Services fell 6.6 percent on talk it may delay a $500 million London listing of its Dubai-based unit Topaz.
"There was a statement from the CEO that the IPO can be deferred till starting next year if the recent events in the Middle East affect the valuation of Topaz," investment bank EFG-Hermes wrote in a research note. "If the Topaz IPO goes through, we will see a strong comeback for the Oman market," said Adel Nasr of United Securities.