JEDDAH/DUBAI: Vodafone Qatar advanced on its Qatar Exchange debut, while Gulf Arab markets were mixed on Wednesday as oil prices and global markets retreated slightly.
Dubai’s index fell for a second day, Saudi Arabia declined and Oman pulled back from Tuesday’s 2009 high, but Zain Group pushed Kuwait higher and Abu Dhabi and Qatar both added less than 1 percent.
Vodafone Qatar rose 8 percent to 10.8 riyals after hitting an intraday high of 13 riyals. The IPO price was 10 riyals.
In Saudi Arabia, negative market to bring the week to a close, with only two sectors closing with gains, namely the Hotel & Tourism sector and the Energy sector, gaining 1.18 percent and 0.39 percent respectively. On the other hand, market losses ranged from 0.06 percent for the Transport sector to 2.52 percent for the Telecom sector. Overall market breadth was negative, with 31 advancers and 81 decliners, giving an AD ratio of 0.38, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its market commentary on Wednesday.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) fell 1.4 percent to 5,567 points, with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) plunging 4.1 percent as sliding oil prices dampened enthusiasm for petrochemical stocks.
Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) fell 4.6 percent, its biggest one-day loss for 21 weeks, after posting a 22 percent drop in second-quarter profit.
Zain Group jumped 5 percent, taking its gains to 8.6 percent since Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) said on Tuesday it was interested in acquiring a majority stake in the Kuwaiti firm. Zain’s rise masked a muted performance from Kuwait’s blue chips, with only three of the 10 largest stocks advancing. The index added 1 percent.
Dubai’s index dropped 0.6 percent, with investors unmoved by a Dubai government spokesman saying the emirate was in the process of issuing the second tranche of a $20 billion bond program.
Aabar Investments jumped 8 percent as traders snapped up the stock following a surge in the value of one of its key investments. In March, Aabar bought a 9.1 percent stake in Germany’s Daimler for $2.67 billion at 20.27 euros per share.
The Dubai index fell 0.6 percent to 1,740 points and the Abu Dhabi index rose 0.5 percent to 2,710 points.
The Kuwaiti index climbed 1 percent to 7,675 points and Qatar’s benchmark climbed 0.8 percent to 6,513 points.
The Omani index dropped 0.4 percent to 5,800 points.
— With input from agencies
