DUBAI: Gulf International Services (GIS) lifted Qatar Exchange to a record high yesterday after its unit signed contracts worth QR5.2bn ($1.4bn) to supply drilling rig services to state energy giant Qatar Petroleum.
The stock jumped 4.7 percent to an all-time closing high of QR128.30 and was the main support for Qatar’s benchmark, which added 0.6 percent and closed above 14,000 points for the first time.
Qatar Exchange index gained 77.7 points, or 0.56 percent, yesterday when trading closed at 14,046.61 points.
The volume of shares was up to 18,429,905 from Monday’s 17,797,867 and the value of shares increased to QR797,309,597.80 from QR781,334,673.66.
Among the other top gainers were Commercial bank of Qatar whose share up 0.13 percent to QR74.70, United Development Company increased 1.62 percent to QR 29.60, Salam International rose 0.44 percent to QR 20.45 and Vodafone Qatar gained by 2.56 percent to QR22.
Banks and finance sector continued its good run yesterday. Its index was up 0.04 percent to 3,452.5 points. Insurance sector also continued its good run. Its index was up 0.92 percent to 4,164.19 points. The shares of 42 companies were traded from the 43 listed on QE. From these, 25 advanced, 11 dropped and six remained unchanged.
Gulf Drilling International, a subsidiary of GIS, will provide two new offshore rigs and two new land rigs, and extend four other contracts, Qatar Petroleum said in a statement after trading closed on Monday.
The stock had already doubled in price this year, making it one of the best performers in Qatar, and GIS said in April it expected its net profit to jump at least 33 percent to above QR900m this year. Qatar Petroleum said the rig contracts had been previously announced, but local retail investors were still energised by the announcement.
Dubai’s bourse slipped 0.2 percent as top developer Emaar Properties fell 1.8 percent. But Drake and Scull rose 1.5 percent after announcing it had won a Dh110m ($30m) deal to build a district cooling plant in Qatar.
Another Dubai firm, property developer Deyaar, added 0.8 percent after saying on Tuesday it had sold out residential units in the first tower of its new Montrose project and would start sales for the second one later this month.
Abu Dhabi’s index edged down 0.4 percent after failing to break through the 5,200 point mark. Blue chips First Gulf Bank and Etisalat fell 1.1 and 0.4 percent respectively.
Egypt’s benchmark continued to retreat from the six-year closing high it hit on Sunday and slid 1.1 percent. The Cairo index had risen 2.9 percent in the first week of September.
“Its a normal pull-back after decent gains that the market has seen earlier this month, a minor correction that everybody was waiting for,” said Mohamed Radwan, director of international sales at Pharos Securities in Cairo.
Saudi Arabia’s bourse was nearly flat as key petrochemical and banking stocks showed a mixed performance.
Agencies
