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28 March 2024

UAE equities outperform regional markets; banks lead

Published
By Reuters

Gulf stock markets moved generally little on Thursday with the approach of Eid Al Fitr holidays next week limiting activity, but United Arab Emirates bourses outperformed on the back of bank shares.

The Saudi index gave up modest early gains to close flat although the petrochemical sector was firm after oil prices jumped overnight. The sector's index climbed 0.4 per cent.

In a sign of market caution, L'azurde Company for Jewellery, which had risen 7.6 per cent when it listed on Wednesday, fell back 6.5 per cent.

In the past, most newly listed Saudi stocks have risen sharply for several days, but L'azurde is a play on the Saudi retail sector, where consumers' discretionary income has been squeezed by an economic slowdown caused by government austerity steps.

A monthly poll of 14 leading Middle East fund managers, published on Thursday, found them cautious on regional equities in general because of slowing economies and the impact of government cost-cutting on corporate profits.

Only 7 per cent of respondents expected to increase their allocations to Middle East equities in the next three months and the same proportion anticipated cutting allocations.

Nevertheless, UAE markets rose in late trade on Thursday with Dubai's index gaining 1.2 per cent in thin turnover. Dubai Islamic Bank added 1.8 per cent and Emirates NBD, the biggest lender, rose by the same margin.

Abu Dhabi's index jumped 1.8 per cent, buoyed by a 5.0 per cent rise in First Gulf Bank and a 3.8 per cent gain by National Bank of Abu Dhabi. The banks announced earlier this month that they were in merger talks with each other.

Egypt was closed for a national holiday.

THURSDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

SAUDI ARABIA: The index was flat at 6,500 points.

DUBAI: The index rose 1.2 per cent to 3,311 points.

ABU DHABI: The index gained 1.8 per cent to 4,498 points.

QATAR: The index edged up 0.1 per cent to 9,885 points.

KUWAIT: The index fell 0.2 per cent to 5,365 points.

OMAN: The index edged down 0.04 per cent to 5,777 points.

BAHRAIN: The index was flat at 1,118 points.