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Reuters
Most Middle Eastern stock markets were soft on Wednesday with Qatar pulling back after two days of strong gains, but a few individual stocks in Saudi Arabia rose sharply in response to positive news.
Islamic insurer Al Khaleej Takaful tumbled 9.1 percent after saying on Tuesday that it would distribute no dividend for 2017, after the central bank asked it to recognise an impairment provision.
In Saudi Arabia, the index was almost flat amid profit-taking in banks and petrochemicals. Al Rajhi Bank , into which foreign money has been pouring in anticipation of Saudi Arabia being upgraded to emerging market status later this year, pulled back 2.2 percent.
But stocks with positive news were heavily traded, showing underlying market sentiment remained strong. Saudi Automotive Services jumped 3.7 percent after its board proposed a capital increase to 600 million riyals ($160 million) from 540 million riyals, using retained earnings, to fund expansion.
Retailer United Electronics climbed 6.9 percent to 67.30 riyals. EFG Hermes raised its target price for the stock to 90 riyals from 50 riyals and, earlier this month, CI Capital raised its target by 38 percent to 80 riyals.
National Petrochemical continued to rocket after announcing very strong annual earnings at the end of last week. It soared a further 8.1 percent. Dubai’s index was also almost flat as builder Drake & Scull surged 2.8 percent.