Dubai’s index climbed 0.2 percent yesterday, after having fallen on profit-taking since Tuesday’s 16-month high. On Wednesday it plunged 4.8 percent, its biggest drop in more than two years. The benchmark is up 19 percent this year.
Large-caps supported the benchmark, with top lender Emirates NBD up 3.3 percent and Emaar Properties climbing 0.7 percent. Dubai Financial Market rose 7.6 percent.
“The two brutal days took out speculative money and some of the money that missed the rally, you’ll see it come in,” said Amer Khan, fund manager at Shuaa Asset Management.
“Over the next few weeks, speculative stocks will continue to fall. The trick is to pick up those stocks that have fundamental strength.”
Contractor Arabtec fell 8.9 percent, down for a third session with investors booking recent gains to leave the stock up 68 percent in 2012.
On Monday, a bourse filing showed Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments, which scrapped plans to take a majority stake in Arabtec two years ago, had raised its holding in the builder to 5.3 percent. Arabtec subsequently said Aabar bought the stake on the open market, ending recent speculation on the buyer and triggering a sell-off.
On Thursday, the firm posted a three-fold rise in its fourth-quarter net profit that beat estimates
Egypt’s main index fell 1 percent on concerns over a planned demonstration in Cairo on Friday against the country’s army rulers.
“People are skeptical and nervous about tomorrow,” said Omar Darwish at CIBC brokerage. “The market was coming off earlier in the week but it’s increasing now.”
Real estate firms declined a day after Talaat Moustafa Group reported full-year earnings that undershot some analyst forecasts.
Darwish said trading volume had been thin on days when the market was in decline, which was typical in a bull market. The index has soared 51 percent this year.
Developer Talaat Moustafa fell 3.9 percent and rivals Palm Hills and Amer Group fell 3.5 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.
“Those TMG numbers were a substantial disappointment and that is why the sector is down,” said Darwish.
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark closed 0.3 percent higher, ending a three-day losing streak.
European and Asian shares rose on Thursday as investors bet Greece would pull off a bond swap needed to avoid a chaotic default and positioned for more upbeat news on the US economy.
In Oman, investment companies rallied, helping Muscat’s index claw back Wednesday’s losses. The benchmark climbed 0.6 percent to approach Tuesday’s seven-month high.
Oman Investment Holding surged 5.9 percent, Transgulf Investment Holding rose 3.9 percent and Oman Investment and Finance Co. gained 3.4 percent.
“The market has turned positive year-to-date, and the underlying assets of these companies have appreciated in value,” said Harikumar Varma, assistant vice-president of asset management at Gulf Baader Capital Markets.
Al Jazeera Services jumped 4.9 percent and Raysut Cement gained 3.6 percent.
In Qatar, the index slipped for a fifth session, down 0.1 percent to 8,594 points as some stocks went ex-dividend.
“We are still in an uptrend over the short term,” said a Doha-based trader who asked not to be identified. “Expected support is at 8,500. The correction experienced is on low volumes, so far confirming the upward trend.”
The Kuwaiti market closed on a positive note this week.
According to Kuwait Financial Center (Markaz), the price index was up 0.71 percent, closing at 6,177 points. The weighted index gained 0.80 percent, closing at 413.86 points.
In Kuwait, Markaz said liquidity levels declined while activity levels improved marginally during the week. Value traded was up 1 percent while volume declined by 14.3 percent.
During the week, the market traded 1.63 billion shares with a value of KD277 million.
This week’s traded value was derived from activities on the service sector 27.9 percent contribution, followed by Investment and Real Estate with 23.5 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
Abyaar Real Estate Development took 4.8 percent of the total (KD13.3 million), but closed down 4.3 percent.
Zain followed with 4.1 percent of the value traded (KD 11.3 million); the stock lost 1.2 percent to 850 fils.
As many as 149 companies were traded during the week out of which 66 closed positive, 52 were negative and 31 unchanged. KGL Logistics, was the biggest gainer by booking a return of 22.8 percent and closing at 275 fils.
On the other side of the spectrum, Al-Ahlia Holding was the biggest loser; the stock declined by 17.6 percent to 14 fils.
