Doha: Investors in Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi booked profits for a second day yesterday as global markets remained gloomy and tension grew between Russia and the West over Ukraine. But all three bourses later recovered to different degrees.
Qatar Exchange ended in the red area when trading closed at 12,144.19 points, down 81 points, or 0.66 percent, from the previous closing of 12,225.19 points.
Shares in Qatar Gas Transport Co (Nakilat) rose 2.3 percent to QR21.59 on higher-than-average volume. The stock has lagged the wider market, gaining just 4.3 percent this year against 17 percent for the index.
The volume of shares was up to 40,965,830 from Sunday’s 29,338,180 and the value of shares increased to QR1,198,054,851.99 from QR925,573,279.75.
Among the top losers were Islamic Insurance whose share was down 3.86 percent to QR69.80, Barwa Real Estate lost 1.23 percent to QR36.25, Al Kaleej Takaful fell 4.21 percent to QR34.10 and National Leasing decreased by 2.73 percent to QR32.10. The banking and financial sector index was down 0.81 percent, while consumer goods and services sector index dropped 1.10 percent. The industrial sector was fell 1.16 percent, while insurance sector added 0.20 percent.
Elsewhere, towards the end of the day other Gulf markets started recovering and they closed well off their intra-day lows.
Dubai’s index, which dived as much as 2.2 percent to 4,656 points during the session, closed up 0.08 percent at 4,763 points as renewed buying lifted heavyweight Emaar Properties 0.5 percent. Several Dubai property and construction names also rose.
Abu Dhabi’s bourse closed down 0.6 percent at 5,134 points after dipping 1.5 percent to 5,083 points during the day. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank recovered from an intra-day loss to close flat as National Bank of Abu Dhabi edged down 0.3 percent.
Saudi Arabia’s bourse edged up 0.2 percent after slipping in the previous three sessions. Saudi Chemical Co led the gains and jumped 9.1 percent after its first-quarter profit rose 3 percent.
Yanbu National Petrochemical Co (Yansab) dropped 1.4 percent after it missed the average forecast of analysts and posted a 16.7 percent decline in first-quarter net profit. The firm, a subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), made a profit of SR555.7m in the quarter. Shares in SABIC were down 2.8 percent.
Kuwait’s main index slid 0.9 percent to 7,495 points with both large- and small-caps in decline.
Shares in Gulf Bank fell 1.3 percent after it posted a 10 percent increase in first-quarter net profit to KD8.73m. Analysts at Global Research and Arqaam Capital had forecast a net profit in the period of KD9m and KD10m, respectively.
The index at the Egypt bourse added 0.1 percent yesterday to close at 7,886 points, while the Kuwait index edged down 0.09 percent to 1,379 points.
QNA & Reuters
