The Saudi Arabian stock market’s post-budget rally ran out of steam yesterday as the index neared technical resistance, while the UAE bourses outperformed the region.
The Saudi index added 1.5% on Sunday in reaction to Riyadh’s modestly expansionary state budget for 2017. But it closed 0.3% lower at 7,166 points yesterday in lower trading volume.
Technical resistance lies at this year’s peak of 7,235 points, hit earlier this month.
Saudi Electricity, which jumped 8.7% on Sunday after the government said in the budget that it would raise domestic fuel and electricity prices by unspecified margins later this year, fell back 2.6%.
In Dubai, the index rose 0.8% as trading volume expanded. Amusement park operator DXB Entertainments gained 3.9%.
Shuaa Capital initially rose as much as 2.6% after it bought 14% of Bahrain’s Khaleeji Commercial Bank, a subsidiary of GFH Financial Group, on Sunday for 9.6mn dinars ($25mn). But Shuaa closed down 1.3%.
Retail and hospitality firm Marka, which surged last week after news that its chief executive Nick Peel had resigned, continued pulling back, losing 2.6%.
Abu Dhabi rose 0.4% on the back of strength in blue-chip banks such as Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, up 1.6%.
In Egypt, the index dropped 0.6% amid profit-taking in blue chips such as Global Telecom, down 4.0%. But Arabia Cotton Ginning, which climbed 5.9% on Sunday after its board approved splitting the company into two separate entities, rose by the same margin again yesterday.
Elsewhere, the Kuwait index rose 0.3% to 5,714 points, the Oman index edged down 0.1% to 5,727 points and the Bahrain index fell 0.3% to 1,208 points.