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DUBAI / Reuters
Most stock markets in the Gulf ended the week on a slightly positive footing on Thursday with Kuwait’s index managing to rebound from heavy losses earlier in the session.
The Kuwaiti index swung 0.3 percent in a volatile session, after dropping as much as 2.0 percent earlier in the day as some shares which had pulled back in the first hour of trade triggered buy orders at those price dips.
Telecommunications operator Zain added 1.1 percent to 0.455 dinars, rebounding from a session low of .445 dinars. In a Reuters poll of 13 leading regional fund managers, conducted over the past week, 23 percent of managers expected to raise their Kuwaiti equity allocations and the same proportion to reduce them. In Saudi Arabia, banking shares helped carry the index 0.8 percent higher with all 12 lenders advancing 1 percent or more. Mid-sized Bank Aljazira was the top gainer among them, jumping 7.8 percent. Elsewhere, Dubai’s index climbed 1.0 percent with daily traded volumes doubling from Wednesday’s very low levels. Most mid-to-large cap companies made gains; Emaar Properties adding 1.1 percent and its retail operating unit Emaar Malls Group rising 1.5 percent.
In neighbouring Abu Dhabi, the index was lifted 0.2 percent higher on the back of gains in second and third tier shares. Eshraq Properties jumped 4.9 percent. But shares of First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi fell in their final day of trading as a separate entity. FGB declined 0.4 percent and NBAD dropped 1.9 percent. On April 1 the two lenders will merge to form a bank under the name National Bank of Abu Dhabi.