Investors buy Oman Cables shares as company reports profit rise

Markets Wrap: Investors bought up shares in a Omani cable-maker, after the company posted 73.2 per cent rise in annual profit for last year, and offered a 70 per cent cash dividend.

Kuwait Finance House rose 1.1 per cent to close at 860 Kuwaiti dinars. Yasser Al Zayyat / AFP

Investors bought up shares in Oman Cables Industry (OCI), an Omani cable-maker, after the company posted a 73.2 per cent rise in annual profit for last year, and offered a 70 per cent cash dividend.

OCI jumped 7.1 per cent to close at 1.323 rials, the highest level in more than two years.

"The volumes have started moving in the right direction, and the bulk of the demand is coming from the local market, while some is from the regional market," said Kanaga Sundar, the head of research at Gulf Baader Capital Markets in Muscat.

"The volatility in copper has reduced, a key requirement to improve their margins."

Copper prices dropped from a peak of US$8,658 a tonne last February, to a low of $7,544.19 a tonne in November.

The metal traded at about $8,053 a tonne on Friday.

In Kuwait, shares of the investment bank Kuwait Finance House (KFH) rose to the highest level in almost two weeks after it said it was considering spinning off its aircraft leasing business on an international bourse.

KFH rose 1.1 per cent to close at 860 Kuwaiti dinars, the highest level since January 9, after it said shareholders suggested the public listing of the aircraft leasing group Alafco.

KFH, which owns a 53.69 per cent stake in Alafco, plans to undergo due diligence procedures on the proposal, it said in a filing to the Kuwait Stock Exchange.

Alafco's remaining shareholders include private investors and Kuwait Airways.

In the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index rose 0.5 per cent to 2,782.00 points, while the Dubai Financial Market General Index advanced 0.9 per cent to 1,791.73.