Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman each made their largest
advances for more than two weeks, but Egypt was the top regional performer,
rising 6.7 percent to end a nine-session losing run after Commercial
International Bank (CIB) said it would it increase its capital with a
one-for-one bonus share.
This will boost the bank's lend capabilities and
stabilize its balance sheet, while new shares will make Egypt's biggest private
bank more tradable, brokers said.
"The market has gone down a lot - it's normal for it
to jump," said Hashem Ghoneim of Pyramids Capital. "It's still very
low volume and mostly institutional buying. It makes me worry that this rise is
not sustainable."
Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All-Share Index gained 1.58
percent to 6,125.73 as rising oil prices boosted petrochemical stocks, with
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) rising 4.4 percent to a week high of
SR88.25.
Gains were seen all across the board with all sectors
closing with higher for the day ranging from 0.11 percent by the Retail sector
to 3.90 percent by the Energy & Utilities sector. The overall market
breadth also remained very strong with 111 advancers against 18 decliners
giving it an AD ratio of 6.16., the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in
its daily market commentary.
Analysts said recent declines in Saudi Arabia were down
to negative global sentiment, rather than company fundamentals and so stocks
were oversold, prompting buyers to come in as fears over the world economy
eased for now.
Dubai's index climbed 1.5 percent to 1,495 points, its
biggest gain since June 20. Emaar rose 3.9 percent, Arabtec added 4.8 percent
and Dubai Financial Market gained 2.7 percent. This trio are typically the most
active stocks and so under- and outperform market movements.
Dana Gas ended unchanged on Abu Dhabi's index. The index
slipped 0.01 percent to 2,521 points.
Kuwait's Zain climbed 1.9 percent, rising for a second
day since Credit Suisse upgraded the telecoms operator by two notches to
"outperform". The Kuwaiti index rose 0.7 percent to 6,365 points.
Doha's index rose 0.4 percent to 6,852 points after
Standard & Poor's raised Qatar's sovereign credit rating.
Bank Muscat climbed 1.8 percent, helping Oman's index
gain for a fourth day. The index rose 1.2 percent to 6,174 points.
The Egypt index climbed 2.9 percent to 6,021 points.
- With input from agencies
