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DUBAI / Reuters
Gulf stock markets appear to have few fresh positives on Wednesday and may consolidate in sluggish trade, with Dubai dampened by earnings and dividend news from several companies.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan is up 0.7 percent but trading is tentative ahead of US inflation news later in the day, while Brent oil is little changed at $62.81 a barrel.
Dubai-listed GFH Financial reported that annual net profit roughly halved, and its board
cut the proposed annual cash
dividend to 8.7 percent from the
previous year’s 10 percent.
Meanwhile, DAMAC Properties reported a 25 percent decline in annual profit, while keeping its dividend flat.
Builder Arabtec’s swing to an annual net profit of AED123.1 million from a year-earlier loss of AED3.41 billion was roughly in line with expectations, as was Drake & Scull’s swing to a very small fourth-quarter profit from a big third-quarter loss.