DUBAI: Qatari shares made their biggest one-day gain in almost five months yesterday as investor sentiment was buoyed by news the government would buy listed shares of investment portfolios of local lenders.
The index in Qatar advanced 8.85 percent to 4,783 points, its biggest single-day gain since Oct. 14.
Arabtec lifted Dubai’s index for the third time in the last four sessions after the UAE top contractor by market value said on Saturday it would tap opportunities in Saudi Arabia with a new joint venture and expected to post a 10 percent profit rise this year.
The Dubai index closed 0.63 percent up at 1,526 points.
The benchmark in Abu Dhabi ended 1.15 percent lower at 2,389 points.
Oman continues a rally since the government launched a market stabilization fund with the industrial sector leading gains on hopes commodity and oil prices had hit their bottom.
Muscat’s bourse gained 0.75 percent to 4,793 points.
Saudi shares hit their lowest levels in at least two years paced by Al-Rajhi Bank.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 1.92 percent lower at 4,130 points. Al-Rajhi Bank fell 4.57 percent at SR41.70.
Downtrend
The BMG Saudi Index, which comprises the top 30 active companies in Saudi Arabia based on their market capitalization after removing government ownership, maintained its downtrend for the third successive session, recording another all-time low closing level in Yesterday’s trading session of 188.34 points, with a decline of 2.2 percent compared to its closing level on Sunday.
The total turnover, however, rose by 19.2 percent to SR1.9 billion compared to Sunday’s session’s turnover of SR1.6.
The total number of shares traded also went up to 119.2 million, up by 20.8 percent versus 98.7 million shares in the previous session.
