Emaar big gainer as earnings data lifts UAE bourses

14/11/2014 08:01 AST

Stock markets in the Middle East were mixed on Thursday as the UAE bourses rose while disappointing third-quarter earnings weighed on Egypt and Saudi Arabia saw a broad sell-off after oil prices hit four-year lows.

Dubai’s index edged down early in the session but then bounced back and closed 1.7 per cent up as heavyweight Emaar Properties jumped 4.8 per cent to Dhs11.00, a one-month high. The stock still trades below levels seen in September and early October, before a slump in the Dubai bourse that was triggered by global markets.

Most stocks in Dubai also rose on Thursday and Air Arabia, whose third-quarter earnings beat estimates this week, jumped 4.2 per cent.

Abu Dhabi’s index climbed 0.3 per cent. Waha Capital dominated trading volumes and jumped 4.2 per cent to Dhs3.24. The company said on Sunday its third-quarter profit more than doubled, and the stock’s strong performance afterwards has attracted an increasing number of buyers. It faces resistance at Dhs3.28, the July peak.

Shares in Aldar Properties, the emirate’s largest listed developer, rose 1.5 percent after it reported a 41 percent rise in third-quarter profit to Dhs584 million ($159 million), well ahead of analysts’ estimates.

SICO Bahrain and HSBC had expected the firm to make a quarterly profit of 382.6 million dirhams and 441.9 million dirhams respectively.

Saudi Arabia’s bourse fell 0.9 percent in a broad sell-off. Shares in petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) 2010.SE lost 0.8 percent after Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell below $80 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2010, and approached $79 on Thursday.

Falling crude prices already hurt some petrochemical companies’ profits in the third quarter by devaluing their inventories. But analysts say the health of China’s economy, a major market for their products, is a more important factor. China’s industrial output rose 7.7 percent in October from a year earlier, missing forecasts, and fixed investment growth slumped to a 13-year low, according to data released on Thursday.

Jabal Omar Development, Saudi Arabia’s largest listed real estate developer by market capitalisation, bucked the negative trend and gained 1.6 percent after reporting a quarterly profit for the first time since 2009.

National Commercial Bank 1180.SE, which started trading on Wednesday after a heavily oversubscribed initial public offer, once again surged its daily 10 percent limit as widely expected by the market.

Egypt’s index fell 0.9 percent. Heavyweights Commercial International Bank COMI.CA and developer Talaat Moustafa Holding TMGH.CA fell 0.8 and 1.2 percent respectively.

Talaat Moustafa posted a 29 percent increase in third-quarter profit to 136.35 million Egyptian pounds ($19.1 million) late on Wednesday, missing some analysts’ estimates. Naeem Brokerage, for instance, had expected the firm to make 156 million pounds in the quarter.

Shares in Global Telecom GTHE.CA fell 1.1 percent after the firm reported on Wednesday a 66 percent jump in net losses for the first nine months of the year.

Telecom Egypt ETEL.CA, which this week reported a 61.3 percent drop in third-quarter net profit, lost 1.3 percent.

Reuters