JEDDAH/DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Co. surged on Wednesday after its main shareholder gave it Citigroup shares worth $597 million, helping the country’s index edge up to a month high.
Middle East markets were flat on low volumes as investors await fourth-quarter results before committing more cash.
Kingdom Holding’s shares jumped 9.6 percent. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) rose 0.35 percent to 6,260.90 points in its fifth straight gain. Sector breadth was positive with gains in 9 of the 15 sectors, which ranged from 0.04 percent in the Retail sector to 2.36 percent in the Multi-Investment sector. On the other hand, negative sector movement ranged from 0.06 percent in the Industrial Investment sector to a loss of 1.75 percent in the Media & Publishing sector. Overall market breadth however was once again negative, with 45 advancers and 63 decliners recording an AD ratio of 0.71, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily market commentary on Wednesday.
“Saudi Arabia has announced a record budget, which means more government spending and this should help companies across all sectors,” said Rami Sidani, Schroders Middle East head of investment.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) ended 1.5 percent higher at SR87, touching a 14-month intraday high.
Abu Dhabi’s index fell 0.3 percent to 2,767 points, slipping from Tuesday’s three-week high, although Waha Capital climbed 5.5 percent after the firm said it had closed a $1.8 billion financing deal for the UAE armed forces to buy Airbus and Boeing aircraft.
Kuwait’s Agility rose 5.3 percent after a newspaper said the country’s Foreign Ministry was trying to help the logistics firm resolve a US court case. The Kuwaiti benchmark fell 0.02 percent to 6,969 points. Banks lifted the Qatar and Oman indexes, with the latter hitting an 10-week high. The Qatari measure climbed 0.4 percent to 7,032 points, while the Omani index rose 0.3 percent to 6,487 points. The Dubai index edged up 0.1 percent to 1,820 points. Emaar Properties rose 0.5 percent.
— With input from agencies
