Doha: Gulf stock markets rose yesterday after companies published mostly positive quarterly earnings and oil prices extended gains.
Oil ended last week higher after seven successive weeks of losses, with Brent slightly above $50 a barrel.
A report by the International Energy Agency said there were signs that lower prices had begun to curb production in some areas, including North America.
Qatar Exchange index gained 53.91 points, or 0.45 percent, as it closed yesterday at 11,916.42 points up from the previous closing of 11,862.51.
QNB gained 0.54 percent to touch QR205.10 and Doha Bank was up 1.79 percent to cloase at QR57. Masraf Al Rayan was up 1.35 percent to QR45.15 and Industries Qatar gained 0.76 percent to QR146.10.
Marsaf Al Rayan will report earnings next week and analysts expect its foruth-quarter profit to rise 18.4 percent.
Industries Qatar, the Gulf’s second-largest petrochemicals firm, said on Thursday it was considering increasing production to use excess feedstock left by the cancellation of a joint project by Qatar Petroleum and Shell.
In Saudi Arabia, equities benchmark rose 0.9 percent as Saudi Basic Industries (Sabic) climbed 1.1 percent to SR79.25 after falling as much as 1.1 percent in the opening minutes. Sabic, one of the world’s largest petrochemicals groups, reported a 29 percent drop in fourth-quarter net income.
Dubai’s bourse added 1.5 percent as Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank, jumped 2.2 percent in thin trade after it reported an 82 percent leap in fourth-quarter net profit, broadly in line with analysts’ forecasts.
Abu Dhabi’s index climbed 1.7 percent as shares in National Bank of Abu Dhabi surged 4.2 percent. The bank is forecast to report a 20 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit.
Egypt’s index slipped 0.3 percent to 9,531 points after failing for a second straight day to break through major technical resistance at 9,572-79 points, the peaks in November and December.
The Kuwait index added 0.8 percent to 6,651 points, while the Oman index rose 1.1 percent to close at 6,591 points. The Bahrain index edged up 0.4 percent to 1,433 points.
QNA/Reuters
