DUBAI: Qatar’s blue chips helped lift the bourse to a new 28-month high on Wednesday, while most other Gulf markets also gained.
Doha’s index climbed one percent to advance to 9,158.73 points from 9,067.56 on Tuesday to its highest close since January 2011. The market is up 9.6 percent in 2013, underperforming other regional bourses.
The volume of the shares traded up to 16,699,196 from 7,166,817 on Tuesday, and the value of shares increased to QR562,141,373.30 from QR248,647,079.81 on Tuesday.
Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank which was up 1.88 percent rose to an all-tiem high of QR146.60, Industries Qatar rose 0.30 percent to QR166.70, Barwa Real Estate gained 2.31 percent to QR26.55 and Gulf International up by 4.52 percent to QR45.10.
“Qatar has been lagging the region and a catch up play is in order,” said Ahmed Shehada, head of trading at Qatar National Bank Financial Services.
Dubai’s measure is up 44 percent and Abu Dhabi has gained 34 percent in 2013. Kuwait is so far the second-best regional performer with 2013 gains at 41.7 percent.
Doha’s developer of The Pearl Qatar project, United Development (UDC) jumped 6.9 percent, extending year-to-date gains to 21.9 percent.
“UDC will be mandated for a lot of infrastructure and government jobs. With the pension fund coming in as a partner, the company is now under the close monitoring of the government,” Shehada added. UDC sold shares worth QR1.6bn ($439.41m) to General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority last year, making it a strategic partner.
In Dubai, the measure climbed 0.7 percent, up for a third consecutive session. The market failed to break last week’s 43-month peak.
Builder Arabtec jumped 7.7 percent to 2 dirhams per share after an announcement by the company that its shares are trading ex-rights from yesterday eased dilution worries among investors.
Shareholders as of end of May 30 will be eligible for a June rights issue subscription, which aims to raise capital by $650m.
“A lot of speculative investors were waiting for the time they don’t have to be committed to the rights issue and not face the risk of dilution,” said Fadi Al Said, head of investments at ING Investment Management. “The pent up demand is catching up, especially since Arabtec was underperforming other stocks in Dubai.” Some analysts say the stock is catching up to an adjusted fair value price on the stock of 2.24 dirhams.
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark rose 1.2 percent.
In Saudi Arabia, dairy firm Almarai surged 5.7 percent to an eight-month high after the firm said it plans to raise its capital by 50 percent to SR6bn ($1.6bn) through a bonus share issue.
The company will distribute a bonus share for every two shares already held.
Samba Financial Group rose 3.2 percent, helping lift the banking index by 1.1 percent. Banks are expected to post strong earnings growth in the second quarter.
The kingdom’s benchmark climbed 0.4 percent to hit a fresh one-year high.
Elsewhere, Kuwait’s measure declined 0.3 percent, easing off Tuesday’s 53-month high. In Egypt, the main benchmark lost 1.3 percent, halting a two-session gain as local investors sold shares.
Agencies
