Doha: Qatar Exchange index ended its losing streak yesterday adding 41.40 points, 0.43 percent, to advance to 9,757.83 points from 9,716.43 on Monday.
The volume of the shares traded fell to 3,701,596 from 4,451,378 on Monday and the value of shares increased to QR167,741,107.12 from QR164,856,807.27 on Monday.
The market was helped by a 3.1 percent rise in Gulf International Services after a subsidiary signed $206 million worth of contracts with Maersk Oil Qatar.
Among the top gainers were Industries Qatar which was up 0.92 percent to QR152.80, Doha Bank gained 0.92 percent to QR54.60, Doha Insurance gained 2.94 percent to QR26.25 and Gulf International up by 3.10 percent to QR56.60.
The Banking and Financial sector index added 0.23 points while Consumer Goods and Services sector index up 0.37 points. The industrial sector gained 0.97 points while insurance sector rose 0.75 points.
Meanwhile, other Gulf markets were narrowly mixed yesterday as turnover shrank with the approach of next week’s long Eid holidays, but a new listing in Oman soared in heavy turnover.
Sembcorp Salalah Power and Water, a unit of Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries, jumped 24.5 percent from its initial public offer price to close at 1.98 rials, after touching a high of 2.00 rials.
A total of 11.03 million shares change hands; the company sold 33.4 million shares or 35 percent of its share capital in the IPO. GBCM Research had previously calculated a weighted fair value of 1.78 rials for Sembcorp Salalah.
The debut suggested considerable demand for fresh exposure to Oman’s economic growth story, but it did not energise the Omani market as a whole; the main index edged down 0.06 percent.
It was a similar story in many other Gulf markets as investors were reluctant to add to their positions given the US political crisis over Washington’s budget and debt ceiling; next week’s holidays mean Gulf investors may be unable to react to major developments in the crisis.
In Saudi Arabia, the index slipped 0.2 percent in shrinking turnover. Saudi Hollandi Bank jumped 5.1 percent after reporting a rise in third-quarter net profit to SR433.3m ($115.5m), above the average analyst forecast of SR398.9m.
But Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest listed bank, fell 1.4 percent after it posted a flat third-quarter profit, coming in slightly below the average forecast of analysts.
Dubai’s main stock index rose 0.6 percent to 2,794 points, bouncing from near technical support around 2,750 points, where it peaked in August. But turnover also shrank.
Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME), Britain’s largest stand-alone Islamic bank, listed on Nasdaq Dubai, the smaller of the emirate’s two stock exchanges - the first new listing in Dubai in more than four years.
The bank said its choice of Dubai showed its commitment to expanding its business in the Middle East. Earlier this year, Dubai announced plans to become a top centre for Islamic finance.
But the stock did not trade on its first day, apparently because the size of the share float was modest and investors were not yet familiar with the bank. The Nasdaq Dubai website showed 100,000 shares in BLME offered at $2.20 each, below its price at listing of $2.61, but no takers.
Egypt edged down just 0.2 percent after Monday’s political violence, in which suspected militants killed six Egyptian soldiers near the Suez Canal and fired rocket-propelled grenades at a state satellite station in Cairo.
But shares in EFG Hermes, Egypt’s largest investment bank, fell 1.4 percent after the company said co-chief executive Hassan Heikal had resigned.
Agencies
