Dubai, Saudi decline as Gulf markets snap rally

23/06/2010 00:00 AST

Petrochemical shares were the main losers on Saudi Arabia’s index which fell 1.4% to 6,364 points. Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) was the top loser among bluechips, closing down 3.4%. Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company fell 2.9% and Yansab an affiliate of Sabic, dropped 2.8%.

Dubai’s benchmark declined for the first session in four, led by heavyweight Emaar Properties, which fell 3%. Investment bank Shuaa Capital fell 6.5%.

Telecoms operator du was the only stock that ended in positive territory after raising $272mn in a rights issue. The stock rose 0.9%.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark dropped 1.4% to 6,364 points.

Dubai’s index fell 1.4% to 1,542 points. Abu Dhabi’s measure fell 0.4% to 2,551 points.

Oman’s measure dropped 0.7% to 6,213 points. Kuwait’s index rose 0.4% to 6,673 points.

Bahrain’s index edged 0.8% higher to 1,407 points.

Investor sentiment was also hurt by an announcement from index provider MSCI, maintaining UAE and Qatar stock markets as frontier markets in its 2010 annual market classification review.

“There was speculation that UAE and Qatar would be included in the MSCI index but that isn’t happening and that’s slightly negative,” said Shahid Hameed, head of asset management at Global Investment House.

In Abu Dhabi, investment firm Aabar was the most volatile stock, falling more than 5% earlier in the day and closing up 2.4% after a late rally.

On Monday, the company said it would meet on Thursday to discuss a date for an extraordinary general meeting to consider delisting from the bourse.

“The news was very unclear and confusing for retail investors who did not seem to have a definite direction to trade the stock,” said Samer al-Jaouni, general manager for Middle East Financial Brokerage Co.

Reuters