DUBAI: Most Gulf Arab bourses rose on Wednesday, buoyed by strength on global markets and bargain-hunting after recent sharp sell-offs, with Kuwait recording its biggest one-day gain since September.
“The regional markets are moving in sympathy with what’s happening globally,” said Keith Edwards, head of asset management at Doha-based investment company The First Investor.
“Stocks such as Industries Qatar and SABIC are global industries and they make up a large weighting on their respective markets, so to some extent the correlation with international markets is justified.”
Saudi Arabia’s TASI index rose 1 percent to 6,343 points.
Kuwait’s index rose 1.2 percent helped largely by banks with National Bank of Kuwait climbing 5.3 percent and Boubyan Bank jumping 5.9 percent. “Banking numbers in the third quarter looked pretty decent,” said Shahid Hameed, head of asset management for the Gulf region at Global Investment House in Kuwait.
Dubai’s index was the region’s best performer, climbing 3 percent, boosted by a strong performance by Emaar Properties which jumped 6.2 percent after recent volatile trading. “The roller coaster ride continued today and investors will hope for a sideways move to the gate tomorrow so they can get off for a rest. The volatility that Dubai has seen this week has been much higher than anywhere else this week,” said Matthew Wakeman, head of cash and equity-linked trading at EFG-Hermes in Dubai.
Raysut Cement helped lead Oman’s bourse higher. Raysut’s plant can now operate at full capacity following a gearbox issue over the past three quarters, SICO said in a research note citing the firm’s management.
This would result in higher capacity utilization and lower cement imports in the fourth quarter, which would impact margins positively, SICO said. SICO gave the stock a long-term neutral rating and target of 1.53 rials.
Egypt’s Pioneers Holding surged 9.1 percent after the country’s bourse announced the firm was in talks to buy a stake in investment bank Beltone Financial.
Bahrain was the only bourse to fall. Its measure declined 0.2 percent to 1,506 points.
