Gulf quiet as Abu Dhabi’s Dana soars

Reuters

Gulf stock markets were mostly quiet in moderate trading volumes on Monday as Abu Dhabi-listed Dana Gas jumped ahead of a court hearing on its effort to avoid redeeming $700 million of Islamic bonds.
Abu Dhabi’s index edged up 0.3 percent as Dana jumped 13.2 percent; it was the market’s most heavily traded stock by far.
A court in the emirate of Sharjah was expected later on Monday to hear a case in which Dana is seeking to have its sukuk declared invalid under United Arab Emirates law.
However, the Sharjah court will not necessarily issue any ruling and the hearing could be adjourned. Legal actions related to the sukuk in both Sharjah and Britain may continue for months, even years, before the case is resolved, people familiar with the case have said.
Dubai’s index edged up 0.2 percent as Union Properties, the most heavily traded stock, climbed 3.3 percent after saying it planned to list its ServeU facilities management unit in Dubai in the second half of 2018.
Bahrain’s Al Salam Bank, the second most heavily traded stock in Dubai, jumped 7.7 percent to 1.12 dirhams after a 6.1 percent gain, when a disclosure on the Bahrain exchange showed a key person involved with the bank had bought 250,000 shares. In Bahrain, the bank’s shares surged 8.5 percent to 0.115 dinar, equivalent to 1.12 dirhams.
Khaleeji Commercial Bank, another Bahraini bank which has soared in big trading volumes since it listed in Dubai, plunged 9.9 percent to 1.36 dirhams. Its shares in Bahrain sank 5.8 percent to 0.113 dinar, equivalent to 1.10 dirhams.
Jadwa REIT jumped 4.3 percent after the real estate investment trust said it had bought two properties worth 148 million riyals ($39.5 million) in Mecca which would initially yield between 6.4 and 6.5 percent annually.
In Egypt, the blue-chip index rose 0.4 percent. Sharkia National Co for Food Security surged 10 percent after it said it had appointed Adel Abdel Halim al-Banna as acting CFO.