DUBAI: The Tadawul All Share Index fell 0.4 percent on Tuesday. All but two of the 12 banking shares declined; Al-Awwal Bank lost 1.3 percent. Petrochemical shares were also weak with nearly two-thirds of listed producers trading lower. But Nama Chemicals, which has been rising strongly since last week on news of its corporate recovery plan, jumped a further 4.2 percent.
Overall most of the regional stock markets fell on Tuesday as the travel curbs ordered by US President Donald Trump hit sentiment toward equities globally.
Egypt’s blue-chip index dropped 2.0 percent, as foreign funds were net sellers of shares, bourse data showed. It was one of only a few days of foreign net selling since the Egyptian pound was floated on Nov. 3.
Fund managers believe that in the worst case, flows of US trade, aid and investment could be hit by Trump’s policies. Companies favored by foreign funds were hit hard on Tuesday with investment firm EFG Hermes down 5.4 percent.
Qatar’s main index fell 1.4 percent, taking its losses over two days to 2.6 percent. Qatar National Bank dropped 1.5 percent.
Dubai’s index fell 1.0 percent as Emaar Properties lost 1.1 percent.
Telecommunications firm du outperformed, falling only 0.3 percent, after du’s parent, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co., said it had acquired a license to operate Virgin Mobile-branded services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Its Abu Dhabi-listed competitor, Etisalat, fell 1.9 percent and Abu Dhabi’s index lost 0.9 percent.
Kuwait’s index closed 0.1 percent lower after falling sharply in intra-day trade. Gulf Bank dropped 5.6 percent.
The market is up 19 percent from the start of the year in very heavy trade, partly because Pakistan will leave MSCI’s frontier market index in May, increasing Kuwait’s weighting.
Stocks were also boosted in anticipation of a briefing by government ministers on economic development plans on Monday night. But the ministers announced very little in the way of new policy initiatives, efforts to accelerate economic development or policies to boost economic growth.
With Kuwaiti stocks richly valued relative to the rest of the region, a monthly Reuters poll of Middle East fund managers, published on Tuesday, found them deeply split on Kuwait’s stock market, with 38 percent expecting to raise their allocations there in the next three months and 38 percent expecting to reduce them.
Overall most of the regional stock markets fell on Tuesday as the travel curbs ordered by US President Donald Trump hit sentiment toward equities globally.
Egypt’s blue-chip index dropped 2.0 percent, as foreign funds were net sellers of shares, bourse data showed. It was one of only a few days of foreign net selling since the Egyptian pound was floated on Nov. 3.
Fund managers believe that in the worst case, flows of US trade, aid and investment could be hit by Trump’s policies. Companies favored by foreign funds were hit hard on Tuesday with investment firm EFG Hermes down 5.4 percent.
Qatar’s main index fell 1.4 percent, taking its losses over two days to 2.6 percent. Qatar National Bank dropped 1.5 percent.
Dubai’s index fell 1.0 percent as Emaar Properties lost 1.1 percent.
Telecommunications firm du outperformed, falling only 0.3 percent, after du’s parent, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co., said it had acquired a license to operate Virgin Mobile-branded services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Its Abu Dhabi-listed competitor, Etisalat, fell 1.9 percent and Abu Dhabi’s index lost 0.9 percent.
Kuwait’s index closed 0.1 percent lower after falling sharply in intra-day trade. Gulf Bank dropped 5.6 percent.
The market is up 19 percent from the start of the year in very heavy trade, partly because Pakistan will leave MSCI’s frontier market index in May, increasing Kuwait’s weighting.
Stocks were also boosted in anticipation of a briefing by government ministers on economic development plans on Monday night. But the ministers announced very little in the way of new policy initiatives, efforts to accelerate economic development or policies to boost economic growth.
With Kuwaiti stocks richly valued relative to the rest of the region, a monthly Reuters poll of Middle East fund managers, published on Tuesday, found them deeply split on Kuwait’s stock market, with 38 percent expecting to raise their allocations there in the next three months and 38 percent expecting to reduce them.
