Tadawul sees heaviest volume in three weeks

JEDDAH: Middle Eastern stock markets rose on Wednesday, encouraged by Tuesday’s jump in oil prices which boosted Saudi petrochemical shares in particular, and strength in Asian bourses after strong Chinese trade data.
Tadawul All-Share index climbed 0.6 percent in the heaviest volume for three weeks. In the petrochemical sector, Sipchem jumped 5.5 percent. Yansab, which was due to release first-quarter earnings after the close, gained 3.5 percent.
National Commercial Bank rose 0.7 percent. It posted a 1 percent rise in profit to SR2.63 billion ($702 million). SICO Bahrain had forecast SR2.30 billion and Deutsche Bank, SR2.23 billion.
Saudi British Bank surged 4.9 percent after posting a 2.4 percent rise in profit to SR1.14 billion; three analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected an average of SR1.01 billion.
But Bank Aljazira fell 2.1 percent after reporting a 68 percent year-on-year rise in quarterly profit; it had been gaining in previous weeks in anticipation of strong earnings.
Dubai’s index added 0.8 percent to 3,501 points as heavyweight Emaar Properties gained 2.7 percent. The index is technically bullish after closing above its 200-day average on Tuesday for the first time since August.
Bourse operator Dubai Financial Market surged 5.5 percent to 1.53 dirhams in its heaviest volume since October as it broke technical resistance on its March peak of 1.47 dirhams.
But Union Properties, the most heavily traded stock, fell 1.3 percent after saying its board had approved increasing its capital to 7 billion dirhams ($1.9 billion); it did not say how capital would be boosted.
Abu Dhabi rose 1.1 percent largely because of First Gulf Bank, which jumped 3.3 percent.
Egypt’s index gained 1.2 percent in modest volume. Global Telecom climbed 3.1 percent; Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted a presentation for an upcoming eurobond issue by its parent VimpelCom as saying VimpelCom would use the proceeds of the issue to pay off a shareholder loan to Global Telecom.