Oman stocks at 17mth low on earnings woes

19/05/2011 00:00 AST

Most Gulf Arab markets fell yesterday as Oman’s bourse hit a 17-month low on low investor demand.

In a ninth straight loss, Oman’s index fell 1.4% to its lowest close since December 10, 2009 on muted buying interest after lower-than-expected earnings.

“We expect to face a strong support at 5,965 points—this level depends on the movement of the index within the next week,” said Osama Ibrahim al-Qinna, head of brokerage at Oman Arab Bank.

Yet the market will find it difficult to stay above 6,000 point, he added.

Bellwether Bank Muscat fell 1.4% and Bank Dhofar dropped 4.5%.

Egypt’s bourse ended a seven-day winning streak, with traders saying recent gains were beginning to look overdone given the murky outlook for corporate earnings in post-revolution Egypt.

The benchmark index fell 0.3%, having risen by around 3% over the past two weeks.

“Today we are having the earnings releases of Orascom Telecom and some other companies are showing a negative performance during the first quarter. The market is reacting to that,” said Nader Khedr, an investment analyst.

Orascom Telecom fell 1.7% before its first-quarter figures was due out later yesterday. The company said it would not pay a dividend for 2010 due to a lack of cashflow from several foreign businesses.

Dubai mortgage lender Tamweel surged 8.3% to its highest close since resuming trade after a 30-month hiatus.

Most shareholders who held the stock during its suspension have now sold to other investors, said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president at Gulfmena Alternative Investments.

“The company returned to profitability, its financial situation is not troubling at the moment and it has the support of the government,” Shurrab said.

Dubai’s index ended 0.7% higher, rising for a second day since Monday’s five-week low. Volumes were concentrated in property stocks. Emaar Properties and Union Properties gained 1.3 and 4.6% respectively.

Saudi Arabia’s index rose for a second day after the finance minister said the budget would be overspent by 15% in 2011 due to higher spending on housing and job-creation.

The world’s top oil exporter has pledged to spend an estimated $130bn, or around 30% of its annual economic output, on housing, jobs, unemployment benefits and other measures. “The government will probably end up spending more than what they said,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi in Riyadh.

The announcement is boosting expectations for corporate results, he added.

The building and construction index rose 0.7% and the main benchmark gained 0.5%.

Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi’s index climbed 0.3% to 2,660 points; Kuwait’s index edged down 0.07% to 6,491 points and Bahrain’s measure slid 0.2% to 1,375 points.

Reuters