It has always been a volatile region in modern times, and stock markets reflected this on Wednesday as the stock markets were what can only been described as a mixed bag, with smaller businesses propping up Saudi Arabia and property developers doing the same for Dubai.
The Riyadh index crept up 0.1 percent. With nine out of ten of the top 20 gainers small to mid-sized stocks including Saudi Indian Co for Cooperative Insurance (Wafa), which added 1.6 percent after saying it had received “temporary and conditional” approval from the central bank to sell some of its professional liability insurance policies.
Wafa has had a bad time of it lately with big losses since Sunday, after they and three other companies were punished by the central banks with a ban albeit a temporary one, on the selling of vehicular insurance policies, because of what was deemed dubious practices.
Real Estate Investment Trust Al Maathher was having a great time of it, the company hit its 10% daily limit for the second day running, with one of its peers Al Jazira REIT seeing a 3.3 percent rise. REIT has seen a remarkable amount of movement this week as trading increased as more investors were pulled in by the increased activity.
“The trend is your friend – retail investors are just piling into shares because of headline news, as there is a lack of news in any other sector,” said a Jeddah-based broker.
Al Rajhi added 1.7 percent with stock up almost 8 percent since the start of the month.
The Dubai index increased by 0.4 percent thanks to help from property development industry big boys Emaar Properties who added 1.2 percent and DAMAC Properties added 0.5 percent.
In Abu Dhabi, the index was up 0.3 percent as three of the five most valuable companies climbed; developer Aldar Properties advanced 0.9 percent.
Qatar’s index dropped 0.1 percent as most banking shares declined.
Egypt’s index lost 0.9 percent, the worst performer in the region. The troubles in Egypt were compounded by the U.S. denying Egypt $95.7 million in aid, delaying a further $195 million because of its failure to make progress on respecting human rights and democratic norms.
QATAR- The index lost 0.1 percent to 9,054 points.
KUWAIT- The index declined 0.1 percent at 6,922 points.
BAHRAIN- The index fell 0.2 percent to 1,305 points.
OMAN- The index lost 0.3 percent to 4,955 points.
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