An investor monitors stock prices on a computer screen on the Dubai Financial Market. Dubai’s benchmark rose 1.9% yesterday as blue-chip lenders Dubai Islamic Bank and Emirates NBD added 4.4 and 2.0% respectively.
Reuters/Dubai
Stock markets in the United Arab Emirates rose yesterday on the back of some strong second-quarter earnings reports and expectations for more of them, while Qatar and Egypt pulled back in thin trade before long breaks for Eid al-Fitr holidays.
Dubai’s benchmark rose 1.9% as blue-chip lenders Dubai Islamic Bank and Emirates NBD added 4.4 and 2.0% respectively.
Dubai Islamic Bank posted a 59.6% jump in second-quarter net profit on Thursday. The bank made 667.5mn dirhams ($181.8mn) in the quarter, beating analysts’ average forecast of 627.3mn dirhams.
Emirates NBD also beat analysts’ estimates on Thursday when it reported a 34.8% jump in quarterly profit.
Builder Arabtec closed up 1.3% after dropping as much as 6.5% early in the session on disappointing results. Arabtec earned 103mn dirhams ($28.1mn) in the second quarter, while analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast 111mn dirhams.
The company did not give any further details of its post-Ismaik restructuring. But an increase in general and administrative expenses for the second quarter may reflect lay-offs among senior managers which followed the abrupt resignation of chief executive Hasan Ismaik last month, said Sanyalak Manibhandu, manager of research at NBAD Securities.
Arabtec is expected to provide more information in an analyst call after the Eid holidays, which is expected to see UAE markets shut between Monday and Wednesday.
The rise in Arabtec shares “that we are seeing now is probably due to some more market talk about who is buying the stock again”, Manibhandu said. Investors hope Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, a major shareholder in Arabtec, will buy at least part of the 28.77% stake held by Ismaik.
Shares in Emaar Properties, Dubai’s largest listed developer, rose 1.9%. The company is expected to announce its quarterly results after the Eid break.
Abu Dhabi’s top listed developer Aldar Properties also jumped ahead of expected earnings. The stock rose 2.6%, helping the emirate’s benchmark add 1.1%.
Qatar’s benchmark slid 0.6%, largely because of Barwa Real Estate, which tumbled 6.8%.
The stock had plunged its 10% daily limit on Thursday after the company posted a quarterly net loss of 42.9mn riyals ($11.8mn) compared to a profit of 40.6mn riyals in the year-earlier period.
The Qatar Stock Exchange index went down by 75.51 points (-0.58%) when trading closed at 12,877.31 points.
The trading valued reached QR 473.104mn with a volume of 11,258,818 shares from 5,059 transactions today.
The market capitalisation of QR 690.245bn yesterday is a drop by 0.41% compared to QR 693.066 registered last Thursday.
The QSE All Share Index dropped 17.45 points (-0.53%) to close at 3,255.24 points. All other sectorial indices went down, except the telecoms which gained fractionally 1.82 points (+0.12%) to close at 1,577.47 points.
Yesterday shares of 39 from the 43 listed firms saw movement. Of these 19 advanced, 17 dropped and three remained unchanged.
Qatar Islamic Bank gained the most from banking sector, up +2.62% to QR 105.70 from Thursday’s closing at QR 103.
From consumer goods and services segment, Medicare share was up +3.07% to close at QR 104 from the previous QR 100.90.
Three of the four real estate firms listed on the bourse made marginal gains while Barwa ended up the biggest loser, dropping -6.8% to close at QR 37.70 form the previous QR 40.45.
Qatari individual investors bought a volume of 6,291,160 shares of 36 companies worth QR 261.195mn (55.21%).
Qatari individual investors sold a volume of 7,673,478 shares of 37 companies worth QR 298.918mn (63.18%).
Qatari institutional investors bought a volume of 2,063,995 shares of 27 companies worth QR 90.536mn (19.14%).
Qatari institutional investors sold a volume of 1,239,541 shares of 22 companies worth QR 60.676mn (12.83%).
Egypt’s bourse slipped 0.1%. Commercial International Bank (CIB) was one of the main drags, pulling back 0.6%. The stock had jumped 4.4% on Thursday after CIB’s second-quarter results came in ahead of analysts’ estimates.
Bahrain’s bourse edged down 0.4%. Bahrain Telecommunications Co (Batelco) fell 1.6% after posting a 22.4% drop in second-quarter profit on Sunday.
Stock markets in Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia were already closed for Eid.
Elsewhere, the Bahrain index edged down 0.4% to 1,466 points.
