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DUBAI / Reuters
Dubai’s stock market rose in early trade on Tuesday after Emaar Malls and Aramex reported strong earnings, but most of the Gulf was quiet, gaining little momentum from the rise of Wall Street and other global markets.
The Dubai index added 1.0 percent as Emaar Malls , the emirate’s flagship mall operator, rose 3.1 percent after reporting a 27 percent gain in fourth-quarter net profit to AED574 million ($156 million). SICO Bahrain had forecast AED499 million.
Courier Aramex jumped 4.6 percent after it reported a 25 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit to AED165 million, beating SICO Bahrain’s estimate of AED115 million. For the full year, profit increased only 2 percent.
The Saudi index edged up only 0.1 percent although Riyadh Bank gained 2.1 percent after reporting a leap in quarterly profit to 974 million riyals from 293 million riyals a year ago. It cited lower impairment charges for credit losses; analysts polled by Reuters had on average predicted a profit of 732 million riyals.
Saudi Investment Bank fell 0.7 percent after MSCI said it would remove the stock from the MSCI Saudi Arabia index at the end of this month.
Abu Dhabi’s index edged down 0.1 percent and Kuwait’s index was almost flat.