28/06/2010 00:00 AST
Qatari stocks fell yesterday, albeit marginally, as net buying from foreign as well as local institutional investors remained low.
With a 22 points loss, the main index of Qatar Exchange, the local bourse, slid to 7,060.59 with the market capitalisation being QR377.33bn (or above the psychologically critical level of $100bn).
Analysts attribute subdued trading sentiment to the second quarter drawing to a close.
Trading value was lower at QR95.38m while volumes totalled 3.4 million. The number of deals concluded on the bourse was 2,089, less than the daily average of around 4,000.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments tumbled on Sunday after setting the date for a shareholder meeting to discuss de-listing the firm.
Middle East markets fell as an end-of-week surge in oil prices failed to outweigh gloom over declines in world equities following fresh doubts about a global economic recovery.
Aabar lost 7.1 percent. The world’s only listed sovereign wealth fund has called a July 26 shareholder meeting to debate plans to convert into a joint stock company. “The main concern regarding Aabar is how minority shareholders will get treated - there isn’t a set road map on how companies delist from the exchange and that’s why investors are cautious,” said Matthew Wakeman, EFG-Hermes managing director for cash and equity-linked trading.
Kuwait was the biggest regional loser, dipping 0.8 percent as market heavyweight Zain fell 1.8 percent, slipping for a second session since hitting a four-week closing high on Wednesday. Yesterday, a Kuwait newspaper reported Zain was in talks to sell a majority stake to Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Telecommunications Corp.
“Zain had been going up for the past few days on talk it was looking to sell a stake, but Kuwait sentiment is negative today and so Zain is seeing some selling pressure come in,” said Shahid Hameed, Global Investment House head of asset management for the Gulf region.
“Everything is down and volumes are very thin. A lot of investment companies are facing a very challenging time and this spooks the market from time to time, usually when there’s a negative global backdrop.”
Other Middle East markets fell, tracking end-of-week declines on global bourses in the absence of local catalysts, although a Friday surge in oil prices helped limit regional losses.
“Trading is very lacklustre and seems quite random - there are no real themes to what is going on,” said a Riyadh-based analyst who asked not to be identified. “It’s a day traders’ market, with a lot of uncertainty about the global economy, which is weighing heavily on local sentiment.”
Dubai builder Arabtec fell 0.5 percent, taking its losses to 31 percent this year, with investors little moved by comments from the builder’s chief financial officer that it expects to receive payment in cash from indebted Dubai World unit Nakheel soon.
“Comments like these will be largely ignored,” added Wakeman. “Until all banks say they have signed up for Dubai World’s debt restructuring and local contractors say they have been paid, we won’t see any significant movement.”
Egypt’s index fell 0.3 percent in thin trade as state-owned banks dumped positions ahead of the end of the fiscal year on June 30, said Amr Shamel of Pharos Securities.
The Peninsula
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