Egypt’s stock market rose sharply yesterday after the finance minister said he would propose only a gradual introduction of a stamp duty on transactions, while stocks going ex-dividend dragged down Dubai.
The Egyptian index climbed 2.6% as blue chip Global Telecom jumped 7.6%.
Amr al-Garhy told Reuters on Wednesday that he would propose a duty starting at 1.25 Egyptian pounds ($0.08) per 1,000 to the government next week, rising to 1.5 pounds in the second year of implementation and 1.75 pounds in the third.
“We are working on not affecting the size or value of transactions in the market,” Garhy said.
Dubai’s index sank 1.0%.
Dubai Islamic Bank plunged 9.3% and GFH Financial slid 11.0%; both stocks went ex-dividend yesterday.
The scope of the falls was larger than normal for ex-dividend stocks and suggested a lack of institutional buying support.
However, rising stocks in Dubai outnumbered falling ones by 18 to 13.
Builder Arabtec, which in mid-February posted a net loss of about 2.95bn dirhams ($803mn), fell 0.3% after releasing a presentation outlining a three-phase recovery plan. It predicted stabilisation of its business in 2017, preparation for expansion in 2018, and growth in 2019.
Abu Dhabi’s index climbed 0.6% on the back of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, which added 4.1%.
The Saudi Arabian index gained 0.7% as real estate investment trusts, the focus of massive activity by day traders in the past week, jumped again.
Riyad REIT, the most heavily traded stock, added 4.6%.
Najran Cement fell 0.8% after saying it was temporarily halting one of its production lines with output capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day because of low demand and high inventory build-up.
Al Tayyar Travel soared 9.3% before being suspended in the afternoon at the company’s request pending the announcement of a “material development”.
After the close, Al Tayyar denied local media reports that it had signed 5bn riyals ($1.3bn) worth of deals with Indonesian agencies to bring Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
However, it said it was represented in a Saudi business delegation now visiting Indonesia with King Salman, and that it would announce any further developments in due course.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait’s index gained 0.4% to 6,767 points; Oman’s index rose 0.4% to 5,815 points, while Bahrain’s index slipped 0.2% to 1,342 points.