GulfBase Live Support
Leave a message and our representative will contact you soon
16/01/2017 05:33 AST
The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) added 0.1 percent on Sunday. Nine of the top 10 performers were from the insurance segment with Wafa Insurance in the lead, jumping 9.1 percent.
Interest in the sector has risen partly because of local media reports late last year that Saudi Arabia was looking at the possibility of including Haj and Umrah pilgrims in a compulsory health insurance scheme.
Almarai rose 0.4 percent after the Gulf’s largest dairy company reported a 1 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit to SR488.5 million ($130 million), roughly in line with analysts’ forecasts. Sales rose marginally and the cost of sales fell.
Analysts at NCB Capital said that despite the relatively flat earnings and revenue growth, strong margin expansion from lower operating expenditure and improving sales in Almarai’s poultry segment were important positives.
The company, one of the few in Saudi Arabia that give forward guidance, said it would “continue to focus on costs control, efficiency gains and cash-flow preservation while maintaining its strategic direction of profitable growth.”
However, the results revealed the dairy and juice segment had suffered its first year-on-year decline in sales, according to NCB Capital. This sent some other food producers lower, with Saudia Dairy and Foodstuff dropping 3.4 percent.
Bank Aljazira, the first bank to report earnings in the Kingdom, reported a 4.4 percent drop in fourth-quarter net profit to SR152 million. Aljazira cited higher impairment charges for credit losses.
The bank’s stock closed 0.4 percent higher after trading lower for most of the session.
However, some other banks were knocked lower, with Saudi British Bank dropping 1.4 percent.
National Bank of Oman lost 1.2 percent after posting a 19.9 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit, at the low end of analysts’ estimates.
Kuwait’s stock market gained 1.9 percent with the largest logistics firm in the Gulf, Agility and National Bank of Kuwait each climbing 3 percent.
Kuwait’s index is up 8.2 percent since Jan. 1, outperforming the region after a long period of sluggish performance.
Dubai’s index pulled back 1.1 percent, its largest single-day decline in a month, retreating from a 15-month high hit last week. Some of last week’s biggest gainers were among the main drags — builder Drake & Scull dropped 3.6 percent and Amlak Finance lost 2.2 percent.
Abu Dhabi’s index edged down 0.1 percent. International Fish Farming Holding (Asmak) jumped 6.9 percent after a blog posting suggested a well-known Abu Dhabi individual investor had bought a strategic stake in the company.
But contacted by Reuters, an Asmak spokesman denied that, and said the company had also communicated the denial to the Abu Dhabi exchange.
Arab News
Ticker | Price | Volume |
---|---|---|
SABIC | 114.77 | 5,915,941 |
SAMBA | 26.98 | 1,138,683 |
DARALARKAN | 13.47 | 74,648,349 |
05/04/2018
Foreign investors bought $1.18 billion in Middle East and North African equities in March, especially Saudi ones amid the kingdom’s upgrade to emerging market status by FTSE Russell, according to a r
The National
05/04/2018
Buying activity in financials lifted the MSM30 Index to 4,794.61 points, up 0.41 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 676.52 points, down 0.08 per cent. Gulf Investment Services was the most acti
Times of Oman
05/04/2018
Traded value on the Dubai Financial Market tumbled on Wednesday as global stocks declined amid an intensifying US-China trade war. In Abu Dhabi, banking shares surged ahead of first quarter results s
Gulf News
04/04/2018
Driven by financial blue chips, the MSM30 Index continued its recovery to close at 4,775.27 points, a gain of 0.53 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index ended at 677.06 points, down 0.07 per cent. HSBC Bank
Times of Oman
04/04/2018
Emaar Properties shares extended losses for another session on Tuesday, to hit their lowest level in a year, as selling continued on the wider Dubai gauge. Emaar Properties fell to a low of Dh5.58, b
Gulf News