PHOTO
* Dubai top gainer in this week's most active session
* Abu Dhabi's Dana Gas falls on share buy-back recommendation
* Qatar jumps, but ends volatile week down
* Cairo's established phone operators reject to buy 4G licence
* Telecom Egypt, the only 4G owner, jumps in reaction
By Celine Aswad
DUBAI, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Stocks in the Gulf rallied on Thursday, taking their cue from global shares after the Federal Reserve left U.S. interest rates unchanged and indicated a slower pace of future hikes.
Dubai's main index
.DFMGI
was the top gainer among its regional peers, jumping 2.0 percent in the most active trade of the week as nine-tenths of the traded shares rose.
Emaar Properties
EMAR.DU
, the largest listed developer and Dubai Investments
DINV.DU
each gained 2.9 percent.
In neighbouring Abu Dhabi, the index
.ADI
advanced 1.0 percent with gainers outnumbering losers by 12 to five.
Abu Dhabi National Energy
TAQA.AD
was the second top gainer, soaring 8.0 percent as Brent futures
LCOc1
bounced above $47 a barrel as the dollar -- the currency in which the commodity trades -- was knocked down.
But Dana Gas
DANA.AD
fell 1.7 percent after it said on Thursday its board had discussed a proposal to buy back shares in the company. The company also expressed its "dissatisfaction with the non-payment of the company's outstanding dues in Egypt" without elaborating.
Qatar's main index
.QSI
rose 1.6 percent with three-quarters of the shares advancing, trimming its loss for a volatile week to 1.2 percent.
Some of the chief gainers were this week's new entrants to the FTSE's secondary emerging market index. Qatar Insurance
QINS.QA
jumped 3.1 percent and Doha Bank
DOBK.QA
climbed 3.3 percent. In Egypt, the main index
.EGX30
fell 0.3 percent, taking its losses for the week to 0.8 percent. Global Telecom Holding
GTHE.CA
dropped 1.4 percent. Cairo's three established mobile phone operators have declined to buy fourth-generation (4G) service licences, two Egyptian telecoms officials told Reuters. The only operator which had acquired the licence last month was Telecom Egypt
ETEL.CA
, which jumped 2.2 percent on Thursday. The country's fixed-line monopoly will now enter the mobile phone market directly for the first time, giving it a distinctive edge over other operators in the industry.
"The main term in the licence creating the deadlock, in our view, is the dollar portion of the licence, presumably which the operators would find difficult to fulfil, while the government would be keen to receive the dollar payments in one go," said a note by Cairo's Naeem Brokerage.
Telecom Egypt had on Aug. 31 paid 5.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($585.59 million) for the licence, 50 percent of which was paid in dollars. The rest will be paid over four years.
Analysts at Naeem Brokerage added that such an "impasse" between regulators and mobile operators could cause damage to the future prospects of their operations in the country, and open the door wider for other international players to acquire the licence.
Saudi Arabia's stock market was closed on Thursday in observance of the kingdom's national day holiday. It will resume trade on Sunday Sept. 25.
THURSDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
QATAR
* The index
.QSI
added 1.6 percent to 10,413 points.
DUBAI
* The index
.DFMGI
gained 2.0 percent to 3,514 points.
ABU DHABI
* The index
.ADI
rose 1.0 percent to 4,515 points.
EGYPT
* The index
.EGX30
added 0.3 percent to 7,914 points.
BAHRAIN
* The index
.BAX
was flat at 1,134 points.
OMAN
* The index
.MSI
added 0.3 percent to 5,766 points.
($1 = 3.7508 riyals)
($1 = 8.8799 Egyptian pounds) (Editing by Keith Weir) ((celine.aswad@thomsonreuters.com; +971562247653; Reuters Messaging: celine.aswad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
* Abu Dhabi's Dana Gas falls on share buy-back recommendation
* Qatar jumps, but ends volatile week down
* Cairo's established phone operators reject to buy 4G licence
* Telecom Egypt, the only 4G owner, jumps in reaction
By Celine Aswad
DUBAI, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Stocks in the Gulf rallied on Thursday, taking their cue from global shares after the Federal Reserve left U.S. interest rates unchanged and indicated a slower pace of future hikes.
Dubai's main index
Emaar Properties
In neighbouring Abu Dhabi, the index
Abu Dhabi National Energy
But Dana Gas
Qatar's main index
Some of the chief gainers were this week's new entrants to the FTSE's secondary emerging market index. Qatar Insurance
"The main term in the licence creating the deadlock, in our view, is the dollar portion of the licence, presumably which the operators would find difficult to fulfil, while the government would be keen to receive the dollar payments in one go," said a note by Cairo's Naeem Brokerage.
Telecom Egypt had on Aug. 31 paid 5.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($585.59 million) for the licence, 50 percent of which was paid in dollars. The rest will be paid over four years.
Analysts at Naeem Brokerage added that such an "impasse" between regulators and mobile operators could cause damage to the future prospects of their operations in the country, and open the door wider for other international players to acquire the licence.
Saudi Arabia's stock market was closed on Thursday in observance of the kingdom's national day holiday. It will resume trade on Sunday Sept. 25.
THURSDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
QATAR
* The index
DUBAI
* The index
ABU DHABI
* The index
EGYPT
* The index
BAHRAIN
* The index
OMAN
* The index
($1 = 3.7508 riyals)
($1 = 8.8799 Egyptian pounds) (Editing by Keith Weir) ((celine.aswad@thomsonreuters.com; +971562247653; Reuters Messaging: celine.aswad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))