Saudi banking, petrochemical shares down

30/11/2016 05:20 AST

Saudi Arabia's stock market gave up early gains by the close on Tuesday. The Tadawul All-Share Index has soared over 25 percent - almost entirely erasing its losses this year - since the government's $17.5 billion international bond issue in late October eased fears about its ability to cope with an era of cheap oil, and helped it begin making delayed payments to settle its debts to private companies.

The index is down only by 0.22 percent so far this year. In early trade on Tuesday the index rose as much as 0.7 percent. But Brent crude oil fell around 2 percent to below $47.50 a barrel on Tuesday afternoon on signs that oil exporters were struggling to agree a deal to cut production.

This pulled the stock index down 0.1 percent in active trade to 6,897 points at the close. It failed to confirm a clear break of major technical resistance on the April peak of 6,876 points. The banking and petrochemical sectors, which led the market up during most of its rebound this month, underperformed on Tuesday; banks dropped 0.3 percent and petrochemicals lost 0.6 percent. Jarir Marketing jumped 6.1 percent.

Data showed cash withdrawals from automated teller machines edged up in October, suggesting cuts to public employees' financial allowances might not be hurting consumption. Insurance stocks favored by local retail speculators also surged on Tuesday, with Al-Rajhi Takaful up 3.9 percent.

Speculative activity in small caps also supported markets in the UAE. Dubai's index rose 0.7 percent as Dubai Investments surged 3.2 percent.

Loss-making construction firm Arabtec climbed 2.3 percent after it appointed Hamish Tyrwhitt as new CEO; Tyrwhitt was CEO of Australian contractor Leighton Holdings, since rebranded CIMIC Group, between 2011 and 2014.

Abu Dhabi's index edged up 0.1 percent, buoyed by banks, with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank adding 1.8 percent. Qatar's index fell 0.5 percent, as Qatar National Bank slipped 3.7 percent.

Arab News