Middle East markets fell, tracking losses on global bourses
as fears that Ireland's fiscal problems could spread to more euro zone
countries weighed on investor sentiment.
The Egypt index dropped 1.6 percent to 6,705 points.
"We've had reports in the past few days of a refusal of
a request from OT regarding the reconsidering of the tax claims," said
Nader Khedr, an investment and capital market analyst.
Amer Group ended at 2.90 Egyptian pounds ($0.50) on its
first day's trading on the Cairo bourse, having hit an intraday high of 3
pounds. Its initial public offering price was 2.80 pounds per share.
Another debut stock, Aluminium Bahrain ended at 0.915 dinars
in Manama, slightly above its IPO price of 0.900 dinars. The stock opened at
1.050 dinars, before giving back most of these gains.
The Saudi index fell for a first day in four as Samba
Financial Group extended losses, dropping 1.7 percent.
Yet the longer-term trend remains positive, said Hesham
Abo-Jamee, Bakheet Investment Group head of asset management, with
petrochemicals and banks - the two dominant sectors on the bourse - expected to
report a quarter-on-quarter rise in fourth-quarter profit.
"Bank profits should increase 15 percent after they
take lower provisions," said Abo-Jamee. "Bank shares have fallen
sharply, but they are ready to rebound next year."
These expectations are spurring some investors to take
positions now, he added.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) fell 0.22 percent to
close at 6,318.5 points. The sector activity for the day was mostly negative
with 10 losing sectors against 5 gaining sectors. The gaining sectors ranged
from 0.15 percent by the Multi-Investment sector to 0.59 percent by the Retail
sector. On the other hand the losing sectors ranged from 0.08 percent by the
Insurance sector to 0.64 percent by the Transport sector. The overall market
breadth for the day was negative with 31 advancers against 87 decliners giving
it an AD ratio of 0.35, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily
market report.
The liquidity for the day reached SR1.74 billion.
In Doha, Masraf Al-Rayan fell 0.6 percent and Qatar
Navigation lost 0.9 percent as traders awaited Thursday's FIFA vote to decide
the decide the host nation for the 2022 soccer World Cup. Qatar is competing
against the United States, Australia, Japan and North Korea.
"If Qatar wins, then there will definitely be some
upside," says Robert Pramberger, acting head of asset management at
Doha-based investment company The First Investor.
Dubai's index fell 0.4 percent to 1,669 points as investors
await news from Dubai Holding. The group, owned by Dubai's ruler, has two loans
totaling $1.8 billion maturing on Tuesday.
The Kuwaiti index eased 0.3 percent to 6,891 points.
The Qatari index declined 0.2 percent to 8,142 points.
The Omani index dropped 0.2 percent to 6,592 points.
The Bahraini index eased 0.06 percent to 1,438 points.
— With input from agencies
