Oman shares lead Gulf drop

29/07/2011 00:00 AST

Oman’s shares led a drop in Persian Gulf markets after Omani Qatari Telecommunications Co reported lower earnings and concern mounted US lawmakers will fail to break a deadlock over raising the debt limit of the world’s biggest economy.

Omani Qatari, the phone company known as Nawras, dropped the most in four months after reporting a 13% decline in second-quarter profit. Renaissance Services SAOG, an Omani provider of services to the oil and gas industry, fell for a third day. Oman’s MSM30 Index slid 1.3% to 5,848.66 at the 1 p.m. close in Muscat, bringing the weekly decline to 1.6%. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index slid 0.3% at 1:54 p.m. in Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s DFM General Index fell 0.1%.

“Our local markets are aligned with the nervousness around the debt uncertainties in the US,” said Ahmed Talhaoui, the Abu Dhabi-based head of investment at Royal Capital PJSC. “In light of the low volumes and the global risk aversion, I struggle to see our markets rallying without some improvement with regards to the US debt ceiling issue.”

Nawras retreated 3.2%, the biggest decline since March 27, to 0.669 rial. The company said second-quarter profit fell to 10mn rials ($26mn) from 11.5mn rials a year-earlier. Renaissance Services decreased 4.1% to 0.812 rial, the lowest level since September.

In Kuwait, Agility DGS, the storage and logistics provider, fell 1.6% to 300 fils. US prosecutors are investigating “potential new charges” against the company under indictment for overcharging the US military, US District Judge Thomas W. Thrash wrote. Kuwait’s SE Price Index decreased 0.5%.

Abu Dhabi’s gauge and Bahrain’s measure fell 0.5% and Qatar’s QE Index lost less than 0.1%. Saudi Arabia’s market was closed for the weekend.

Gulf Times