Poor fourth-quarter earnings from two UAE companies weighed on stock markets there yesterday while Kuwait pulled back in another day of volatile trade.
Dubai’s index fell 1.2% to 3,683 points, retreating from major technical resistance at 3,737-38 points, the peaks in January.
Air Arabia slumped 8.6% in unusually heavy trade after it made a net loss attributable to owners of 38.6mn dirhams ($10.5mn) versus a net profit of 55.9mn dirhams in the prior-year period.
Analysts at EFG Hermes and SICO Bahrain had forecast a net profit of 131.8mn dirhams and 127.9mn dirhams respectively.
The board, citing difficult conditions in the regional aviation industry, recommended a cash dividend of 7% for 2016, down from 9% for 2015.
Union Properties dropped 6.2% after the mid-sized developer made a 2016 full-year net profit of 211.4 mn dirhams, down 51% from 2015.
In Abu Dhabi, Dana Gas retreated 1.9% after its fourth-quarter net profit came in at $7mn, down from $134.2mn in the year-ago period.
The sharp drop was partly due to fact that Dana made a one-off gain from an arbitration settlement in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Dana’s chief executive said the company continued to face challenges in the collection of receivables, especially from Egypt, and that it would not make new investments there.
Abu Dhabi’s stock index edged down 0.1%.
Kuwait’s index fell 1.1% in heavy volume, reversing a rise of the same size on the previous day; the market surged 19% in January and has been seasawing in volatile trade since then as investors take profits.
Logistics conglomerate Agility tumbled 6.7% after saying it was seeking to settle by arbitration a $380mn dispute with Iraq’s government over its investment in the Iraqi telecommunications industry.
Egypt’s main index fell 0.9%.
Juhayna Food Industries fell 2.2% but remains up 31.7% since Sunday, after investors bought back aggressively into a food sector hit by the devaluation of the Egyptian pound.
Loss-making Egyptian Iron and Steel soared 9.9% in unusually heavy trade after the company said it had laid out a preliminary plan to develop and upgrade some of its production lines with an expected cost of $200mn.
Earlier this week, the commodities producer said sales grew 25.6% in the six months to December 31.
Saudi Arabia’s index closed almost flat with declining shares outnumbering rising ones by 81 to 63.
Samba Financial Group dropped 1.2% while about two-thirds of insurance stocks closed lower; Al Ahlia for Cooperative Insurance slumped 5.0%. However the largest listed stock, Saudi Basic Industries, gained 1.1% as Brent oil climbed back over $55.50 a barrel.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Oman’s index edged down 0.1 % to 5,820 points, while Bahrain’s index lost 0.2% to 1,307 points.


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