| 18 Mar 2010 |
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Tadawul index maintains upward momentum
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JEDDAH/DUBAI: Qatar's bourse made its largest gain for 15 weeks on Wednesday as banks received approval to start trading stocks again, while bullish oil prices helped the Saudi index hit a fresh 17-month high.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) increased 0.92 percent to 6,674.41 points. Wednesday's trading only saw 4 negatively closing sectors, which saw losses of 0.03 percent, 0.255 percent, 0.56 percent and 0.71 percent in the Media & Publishing, Insurance, Hotel & Tourism and Energy & Utilities sectors respectively. On the positive side of the market, 11 sectors closed with gains, which ranged from 0.03 percent in the Transport sector to 1.58 percent in the Banks & Financial Services sector. Overall market breadth was positive, with 63 advancers and 44 decliners registering an AD ratio of 1.43, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily market commentary.
Egypt's market rose for a second day as worries over the health of the country's president eased, but Dubai shares tumbled as nervous investors booked gains.
Qatar's index rose 3.8 percent to 7,315 points, its largest gain since Dec. 2 and highest finish since mid-October.
Banks had been unofficially banned from trading on Qatar's market since the government bought up their share portfolios last year. On Tuesday, the central bank said banks would soon be allowed to buy Qatari stocks.
Qatar National Bank climbed 7.4 percent and Qatar Islamic Bank added 3.9 percent.
"Banks are generally accumulators of stocks, rather than sellers, so investors have taken the news as a good time to enter the market," said Keith Edwards, head of asset management at Doha-based investment company The First Investor.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) rose 1.6 percent to SR95.75, helping the index reach its highest finish since Oct. 15, 2008.
"Saudi shares traded positively in line with a broad rally in equity markets," said Mohammed Ishaq Ali, a fund manager at Al-Rajhi Capital. "Anticipated growth in global oil demand and a significant fall in global oil inventories is likely to keep oil markets bullish in the coming weeks.
"The continuous flow of positive global and local market news is steadily guiding the market northwards, backed by the strong fundamentals of the economy."
Egypt's main index rose 1.5 percent to 6,560 points.
Orascom Construction rose 2.1 percent. Telecom Egypt and Orascom Telecom fell 4.9 and 1.7 percent respectively. Both issued full year results below market expectations this week.
Dubai's index fell 2.3 percent to 1,718 points, its largest decline for more than a month, easing from Tuesday's nine-week high as investors cashed in following a media report on Dubai World's $26 billion restructuring plans.
Emaar Properties fell 4.5 percent and Dubai Financial Market lost 7.6 percent.
Dubai World will offer banks a single proposal to repay in full the $26 billion debt it is renegotiating, with interest likely linked to LIBOR, Al Arabiya TV said.
"We've all said that what has been happening in the market was linked to Dubai World - some people have decided to sell on this news coming out and if no government guarantee (in the debt restructuring) is offered, it could be seen as negative," said Ahmed Hamdi, senior relationship manager at Prime Emirates.
The Kuwaiti stock index fell 0.4 percent to 7,416 points. The Omani benchmark rose 0.1 percent to 6,628 points.
© Arab News 2010
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