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DUBAI / Reuters
Saudi Arabian stocks rebounded on Tuesday as oil prices hit a one-month high, outperforming other stock markets in the Gulf where traders booked profits.
Egypt’s main index pulled back but foreign buyers continued to hunt for bargain buys, lifting the broader index.
Saudi Arabia’s general market index rose 1.6 percent to 6,602 points, heading back towards technical resistance at the July peak of 6,703 points.
The index has now gained 13.9 percent over the past four weeks, despite slight losses in recent days.
All but one of the 12 listed banks advanced, with top lender National Commercial Bank gaining 1.5 percent.
Hesham Tuffaha, vice president of asset management at Riyadh-based Mulkia Investment, said banks were supported by positive news on the sector over the last month. That included the easing of liquidity following Saudi Arabia’s successful international sovereign bond sale in October and the government settling delayed bills to the private sector.
More recently, the Saudi central bank said on Sunday that it had mandated Thomson Reuters to be the benchmark administrator of the interbank lending rate, SAIBOR.
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said this would “allow for further transparency and reliability in the method of calculation of the Saudi Arabian Interbank Offered Rate.”
Petrochemical shares were also strong on Tuesday, with the sub-index climbing 1.7 percent, as oil prices touched a one-month high on optimism that OPEC would overcome internal disputes when it meets this month and strike a deal that materially reduces crude output.
However, Tuffaha of Mulkia Investment saw little upside for the stock market in the near term, saying it was likely to be volatile.
“At this juncture I think investors will be focusing on the outcome of the Nov. 30 OPEC meeting, and closely eyeing the fourth quarter results which are still relatively negative because this was a year of painful austerity and fiscal consolidation.”
Other Gulf markets underperformed. Dubai’s main index fell 0.5 percent but trading volume spiked to its highest level since March. Shares of small and mid-sized companies, traded mainly by local investors, were the top losers.
Abu Dhabi’s index failed to hold onto small gains earlier in the session and fell back 0.3 percent.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank lost 2 percent but Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank jumped 3.4 percent and Union National Bank added 3.1 percent.
Trading in all three banks has been volatile in the past week amid rumours that they intend to merge: ADIB with unlisted Alhilal Bank and ADCB with UNB. On Sunday, each bank issued a statement denying that speculation.
EGYPT DIPS
Egypt’s blue chip index slipped 0.2 percent to 11,520 points, ending a four-day winning streak although it is still holding near an eight-year high. The index has gained 35 percent since the Egyptian pound was floated on Nov.3 and trading volumes remained very heavy.
The broader market index gained 1.2 percent to a fresh 19-month high on Tuesday, suggesting foreign buyers have rotated into second and third-tier stocks.
Foreign funds have been accumulating shares since the government scrapped the currency peg, which has made share prices relatively cheap.
Egypt’s biggest listed lender Commercial International Bank , for example, which fell 2.6 percent to 69.22 pounds on Tuesday, is trading below its dollar-denominated global depository receipt (GDR). At $4.21 its GDRs are worth 72.83 pounds at an exchange rate of 17.30 pounds to the dollar.