Egypt's bourse extended gains on Thursday after a truce between Egyptian riot police and protesters helped calm market concerns, and most Gulf markets were mixed, taking support from steady world stocks. The main Egyptian index closed 1.7 percent higher, a day after bargain hunters helped the measure gain 1.1 percent and bounce back following a 10-day losing streak caused by unrest which had dragged it to 32-month lows.
Egyptian riot police and protesters observed a truce on Thursday after violence that has killed 39 people in five days and the army said parliamentary elections would start on time next week. Commercial International Bank climbed 5 percent, Telecom Egypt added 1.7 percent and Orascom Telecom 6.8 percent.
In Dubai, the index eased away from the previous day's seven-year low after a steady opening on European markets. It inched up 0.1 percent, halting six sessions of declines. Heavyweight lender Emirates NBD was the main support, rising 0.9 percent, and telecoms operator du gained 1.1 percent. "Right now the spotlight is entirely on international markets, giving direction to UAE and regional markets," said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president at Gulfmena Investments.
"As long as the situation overseas is stable, I wouldn't expect further declines from these support levels. But any deterioration will play a big role in pushing markets further down and we could see another sell-off although on low volumes." World stocks held near seven-week lows, with investors reluctant to buy riskier assets even after eight straight losing sessions which should make prices attractive.
Abu Dhabi's index fell 0.5 percent, down for a ninth straight session to reach its lowest close since March 2009. First Gulf Bank fell 2.4 percent and National Bank of Fujairah slumped 9.9 precent. In Qatar, the measure fell 0.1 percent to a three-week low.
Industries Qatar and Qatar National Bank slipped 0.8 and 0.3 percent respectively. In Oman, the bourse ended a nine-session losing streak, as investors picked up battered blue chips. The index added 0.2 percent, up from Wednesday's 28-month low. "There is some local buying both from pension funds and local asset managers ... after such a steep fall," said Kunal Damle, Bank Muscat's head of international equity sales.
"From next month we will start seeing some interest in dividend yielding stocks like the oil, marketing and telecoms." Raysut Cement gained 2.8 percent and Renaissance Services climbed 0.5 percent. In Kuwait, the index ended 0.3 percent lower, extending 2011 losses to 16.9 percent.
Confidence is still shaky after protesters last week stormed parliament, demanding the prime minister step down. "Volumes and liquidity are already very low, because of many other reasons, mostly bad results, continued losses, fear from EU crisis and fear from global recession," said Safaa Zbib, head of research at Kuwait and Middle East Financial Investment Co. "The whole formula is not helping," she added. "The cherry on top is the local political unrest."