Shares in Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House slipped in heavy trade yesterday as it confirmed that it might list on the Saudi Stock Exchange, even as it ponders whether to delist from Kuwait’s bourse.
“GFH is still considering the possibility of delisting from Kuwait and listing on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul,” the investment company said in a statement on the Dubai stock market’s website yesterday.
GFH’s shares, which are also listed in Bahrain and Dubai, were delisted two months ago from the London Stock Exchange, where the shares had barely traded.
By contrast, trading volumes of its shares have been healthy on the Kuwaiti bourse.
GFH was the heaviest traded stock on the Dubai Financial Market yesterday, losing 0.5 per cent to 70.9 fils.
The DFM General Index ended trade yesterday below 4,000 for the first time in a month, closing down 1.3 per cent to 3,986.60, as contagion from falling emerging markets hit the UAE.
Arabtec and Emaar Properties were among the worst affected blue chips, falling 2.7 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.
Shares in the capital were not as badly affected. Abu Dhabi’s headline index fell 0.6 per cent to 4,692.29.
Kuwait’s stock exchange was the only Arabian Gulf bourse to end the day in black, closing up 0.3 per cent, thanks to gains by NBK and Zain.
In Egypt, Emaar Misr’s miserable first week of trading continued unabated. The shares closed down 4.9 per cent to 3.3 Egyptian pounds.
Shares of the developer, which traded for the first time on Sunday, have since lost 13.2 per cent of their value.
Egypt’s headline index yesterday closed down 2.2 per cent to 7,584.27, its lowest level since April 2014. The index has fallen 22.3 per cent so far this year.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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