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Reuters
Gulf stock markets mostly moved sideways on Wednesday, drawing little strength from rising oil prices, while Egypt pulled back after closing at record highs for three straight days.
Brent oil futures rose to $61.70 per barrel, their highest since July 2015, while global equity markets continued climbing. The failure of Gulf bourses to rise on the back of these trends showed how gloomy investors have become about economic growth in the region.
The Saudi stock index rose 0.2 percent as top Saudi petrochemical producer Saudi Basic Industries edged up only 0.1 percent. Higher oil prices tend to be positive for profit margins at Saudi petrochemical firms but the industry faces the possibility of domestic electricity and fuel price hikes within months and higher gas feedstock prices as soon as in 2019. National Petrochemical fell 2.1 percent after reporting a marginal rise in quarterly net profit to$53 million from 191.6 million riyals a year earlier.
Real estate firm Dar Al Arkan surged 3.1 percent and City Cement edged up 0.1 percent. Alawaal Bank added 0.9 percent after its profit jumped to 363 million riyals from 262.8 million riyals, largely because of a drop in loan impairment charges after several quarters of high charges.
In Dubai, the index was almost flat as Emaar Properties rebounded 0.6 percent. On Thursday, it is expected to announce the indicative price range for an initial public offer of shares in its local property development unit. Qatar’s index edged up 0.1 percent but Qatar Fuel Co fell 1.2 percent to 91.91 riyals, testing and holding major technical support on its January 2016 low of 91.74 riyals. The best-performing market in the Gulf was Oman, where the index climbed 0.8 percent on the back of gains in two blue chips: National Bank of Oman, up 2.7 percent after trading at multi-year lows, and Omantel, up 1.3 percent.