People walk in front of the Egyptian Stock Market in Cairo yesterday. A top International Monetary Fund official will visit Egypt today for talks likely to focus on the $4.8bn loan agreement frozen last month because of political unrest in the country.
DOHA/DUBAI: Markets in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates hit multi-month highs yesterday as investors took positions ahead of dividend and fourth-quarter earnings announcements.
Doha’s index rose 0.8 percent to finish at its highest level since May 2012. The Qatar Exchange index added 67.31 points (or 0.79 percent) to advance to 8,636.44 points from 8,569.13 on Thursday.
Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank which was up 1.12 percent to QR136, Industries Qatar rose 2.79 percent to QR165.90, Masraf Al Rayan gained 0.38 percent to QR26.20 and Barwa Real Estate was up by 0.89 percent to QR28.25.
The banking and financial sector index was up 9.77 points, the consumer goods and services sector index added 15.47 points, the industrial sector gained 44.44 points while the insurance sector dropped 14.85 points.
In Dubai, Emaar Properties was the main support, rising 2.6 percent. Builder Arabtec and courier Aramex climbed 2.1 and 1.5 percent respectively.
“If Q4 numbers are solid, expect the market to continue doing well compared to the rest of the region - we saw retail investors trigger the rally and institutional buying followed, which is healthy,” said Amer Khan, fund manager, Shuaa Asset Management.
Institutions tend to trade more on company fundamentals and typically hold positions for longer than retail investors.
UAE companies will begin reporting fourth-quarter earnings in February, when dividends are also announced. Mortgage lender Tamweel fell 4.2 percent to Dh1.14, down for a second session.
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) said on Thursday that its board approved plans to fully acquire the mortgage firm through a share swap — each Tamweel shareholder will be offered 10 DIB shares for every 18 Tamweel shares. After closing the offer, DIB will apply to the regulator to delist Tamweel from the Dubai Financial Market. DIB shares dipped 1 percent to 2 dirhams.
“For Tamweel shareholders, (it’s) not so good on the short-term as the book value is higher than the market value,” said Nabil Al Rantisi, managing director at Menacorp, in Abu Dhabi.
“For Tamweel as a company and the shareholders on the long run, it will be positive as they will have access to cheap funding — DIB is a bank that has lots of deposits.”
Dubai’s index rose 0.7 percent to its highest close since April 2012. It hit an intra-day peak of 1,708 points and remains technically bullish after last week’s break above October’s high of 1,656 points, which is now a support level.
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark climbed 0.9 percent to 2,710 points, its highest close since July 2011. Lenders led gains, with National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank climbing 3.4 and 1.9 percent respectively.
In Saudi Arabia, the bourse slipped from Saturday’s 15-month high amid slight profit-taking. The index slipped 0.1 percent, halting a three-day gain. Investors are waiting for fourth-quarter earnings, which will begin to trickle in later this week.
Banks weighed with Samba Financial Group declining 0.7 percent, Banque Saudi Fransi down 0.3 percent and heavyweight Al Rajhi Bank eased 0.4 percent.
Bank shares posted flat growth in 2012, underperforming the main benchmark, which rose 6 percent. Lending growth failed to translate to profit as provisioning took its toll.
Analysts are expecting impairments to trail off in the fourth-quarter, which should help the sector and the overall market’s performance.
NCB Capital said quarterly net income for stocks under its coverage are expected to rise 10 percent year-on-year.
“The key reason behind the expected increase is the 12.8 percent year-on-year increase expected in the banking sector’s earnings to an estimated SR6.7bn ... due to strong growth in lending and lower provisioning,” it said.
HIGHLIGHTS
DUBAI: The index rose 0.7 percent to 1,694 points.
ABU DHABI: The index climbed 0.9 percent to 2,710 points.
QATAR: The index advanced 0.8 percent to 8,636 points.
SAUDI ARABIA: The index eased 0.08 percent to 7,005 points.
EGYPT: The index ended flat at 5,734 points.
OMAN: The index ended flat at 5,782 points.
KUWAIT: The index gained 0.2 percent to 6,014 points.
BAHRAIN: The index climbed 0.2 percent to 1,064 points.
QNA/Reuters
