DOHA: Qatar‘s bourse advanced broadly yesterday with the index hitting new six-year high. The benchmark index rose 1.07 percent to close 12,453 points, the highest levels since June 9, 2008.
Telecoms sector index rose the most with Vodafone surging 9.9 percent. Among other top gainers were QIB, International Islamic, Islamic Insurance and Rayan. QIB soared 4.74. International Islamic gained 3.80 percent, while Islamic Insurance and Rayan edged up 3.48 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
After the market close, QIB announced that its net profit grew by 15 percent to QR335m for three months ending March. The bank’s total assets increased by 21 percent to QR83bn compared to a year ago. Shareholders’ equity increased by 3.5 percent to reach QR11.2bn by the end of 1Q2014.
The bourse’s market cap rose to QR718bn from Tuesday’s QR716. Total traded value rose to QR1.13bn from QR944m. traded volume surged to 35 million shares from 26 million shares.
In the region, most Gulf markets edged up yesterday. UAE markets added 0.9 percent each, but short-term technical signals in the markets remain weak, especially in Dubai , where turnover was below average. Weak earnings from petrochemicals weighed on Saudi Arabia.
Dubai Islamic Bank contributed most to the move, gaining 2.6 percent. The bank said late on Tuesday that regulators had approved a move to allow foreigners to hold up to 25 percent of its shares, up from 15 percent previously. Thomson Reuters data shows investors from outside the Gulf held 10.1 percent of shares as of Tuesday while Gulf investors from outside of the United Arab Emirates held 4.8 percent.
Abu Dhabi’s index rose largely on the back of National Bank of Abu Dhabi, which added 2.8 percent.
Both UAE benchmarks remained well below peaks which they hit earlier this month.
Saudi Arabia’s index was nearly flat as a slump in petrochemicals offset small gains in most other sectors.
Shares in Methanol Chemicals Co fell 0.2 percent after its first-quarter net profit came in at SR24.2m ($6.45m), below two analysts’ estimates of SR28.5m-SR31m.
Sahara Petrochemical, which is in talks with Sipchem over a possible merger, dropped 3.2 percent after posting a 20.3 percent fall in first-quarter net profit on Tuesday. Shares in Sipchem fell 1.2 percent.
Telecommunications operator Zain Saudi was up 1.5 percent after its first-quarter loss turned out to be narrower than analysts had expected. The firm made a net loss of SR318m, while analysts polled on average had forecast Zain Saudi would lose SR400m.
Egypt’s bourse continued a leg up which started on Monday, adding 0.7 percent, largely on the back of two stocks.
Shares in investment firm Pioneers Holding jumped 9.9 percent as the company prepared to publish its quarterly earnings, which are due between April 16 and 23 according data. Earlier this month, the company posted a 37 percent increase in net profit for last year. Property developer Talaat Moustafa Group gained 2.4 percent after jumping 9.9 percent on Tuesday when it announced its first-ever cash dividend.
The Kuwait index edged up 0.02 percent to 7,516 points, while the Bahrain index edged up 0.3 percent to close at 1,380 points.
The Peninsula/Reuters
