Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upswing trend yesterday, adding 5.09 points or 0.06 percent to advance to 8,570.43 points from 8,565.34 on Monday.
The volume of the shares traded up to 3,671,300 from 3,113,526 on Monday and the value of shares decreased to QR141,741,986.85 from QR159,442,072.27 on Monday.
Among the top gainers were Industries Qatar which was up one percent to QR152.00, Islamic Insurance rose 0.88 percent to QR57.00, Al khalij Commercial Bank gained 0.23 percent to QR17.25 and Rayan up by 0.57 percent to QR26.65.
The banking and financial sector index lost 1.78 points while consumer goods and services sector index added 31.43 points. The industrial sector gained 11.46 points while insurance sector dropped 3.25 points.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s bourse made its largest one-day gain in 10 weeks yesterday, rallying to a seven-week high as petrochemicals stocks rose on bargain hunting and most other Gulf bourses also gained.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), the world’s largest chemicals producer, climbed 2.3 percent, National Industrialisation rose 2.6 percent and Saudi Arabian Fertilizers added 1.9 percent.
Saudi petrochemical and banking shares suffered heavy losses after broadly disappointing third-quarter earnings, dragging the benchmark back to July levels, but analysts said this selling was overdone and had forecast share prices would recover after the Eid Al Adha holidays ended on November 2.
“Petchem stocks were hammered with the results and keeping in mind global markets just opened yesterday and oil is up, this is opportunity buying,” said Tariq Alalaiwat, equity research analyst at NCB Capital.
Brent crude rose more than $1 a barrel yesterday.
Saudi’s bank index rose 1.2 percent. Banque Saudi Fransi and Samba Financial Group were the main gainers, rising 3.3 and two percent respectively. The kingdom’s main benchmark climbed 1.1 percent to close at its highest level since September 25.
In Kuwait, the bourse slipped 0.5 percent, declining for a fourth session in five, although selling pressure appeared to be easing along with investor fears that political protests could become more violent.
The index finished about 60 points above Sunday’s eight-year low. Small-caps were hardest hit. Ithmaar Bank fell 5.1 percent, Inovest slipped two percent and Gulf Finance House lost 2.9 percent.
The five largest stocks on the index closed flat. Analysts said stake-linked funds have been buying bluechip stocks to help ease broader selling pressure.
In the United Arab Emirates, Dana Gas finished 2.5 percent higher, having risen as much as five percent intra-day as it rebounded from Monday’s seven-week low. The company said on Tuesday it is still negotiating a standstill agreement with a creditors’ committee.
Banks also gained, with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi climbing 0.9 and 0.4 percent respectively.
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark rose for a first session in three, finishing 0.5 percent higher.
Dubai’s index climbed 0.2 percent, easing away from Monday’s one-month closing low. Telecom operator Du advanced 3 percent, while Emaar Properties slipped 0.3 percent.
“The results (in the UAE) were mostly neutral to disappointing so far — the star companies of last four quarters like Emaar, ADCB, du have came below expectations, while new players surprised on the upside,” said Mohammed Yasin, managing director of Abu Dhabi Financial Services.
Agencies
