Saudi Arabia shares continue rebound

Saudi Arabia’s stock market continued rallying early on Monday after last week’s big international bond sale by the government boosted sentiment, but other Gulf markets were soft after some weak third-quarter earnings.

The Saudi stock index rose 0.8 per cent in the first hour. It underperformed the region earlier this year as low oil prices and government austerity measures hit the economy hard, so may now have more room to snap back.

Petrochemical and industrial firm Alujain jumped 6.1 per cent after it said it would distribute a 0.5 Saudi riyal per share dividend for 2016 – its first dividend since 1998.

Retail chain Jarir Marketing gained 3.5 per cent after chairman Muhammad Alagil said that the retail sector’s slump might be near ending: “We think the sharp decline is fundamentally over, or will be over by the end of this year.”

The stock had dropped 45 per cent year-to-date. Mr Alagil said it was excessively cheap and he didn’t exclude the possibility of a share buy-back, though he stressed this would depend on the board’s decision.

Dubai’s index edged down 0.1 per cent in line with a lacklustre global market trend. Deyaar Development fell 0.2 per cent despite reporting a 22.5 per cent jump in third-quarter profit; revenue for the period soared five times.

Abu Dhabi also slipped 0.1 per cent. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank initially dropped after reporting a 17 per cent fall in third-quarter profit to Dh999.1 million; three analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast Dh1.1 billion. But the stock then rebounded in active trade to stand 0.2 per cent higher.

In Qatar, the index dropped 0.3 per cent as petrochemicals, metals and fertiliser producer Industries Qatar fell 1.4 per cent after posting a 28.9 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit to 759.7 million Qatari riyals. Analysts had forecast 996.6m riyals.

* Reuters

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