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Qatar stocks at 2-year high

JEDDAH/DUBAI: Qatar's index rose to its highest close in more than two years on Sunday, after the Gulf Arab state won the right to host the 2022 soccer World Cup.

Most regional bourses ended with gains, boosted by Qatar's successful World Cup bid.

Doha's benchmark ended 3.6 percent higher at 8,477 points, its highest close since October 2008, after rising more than 7 percent in early trading. Volumes hit an 18-month peak.

All shares on the bourse ended positive, with banking and infrastructure stocks being the biggest gainers.

Barwa Real Estate Co., Qatar's second largest developer by market capitalization, climbed 6.2 percent. Qatar National Bank, the largest lender by market value, gained 4.5 percent to a high of at least two years.

Islamic lender Masraf Al-Rayan gained 5.5 percent and Industries Qatar climbed 4.3 percent.

Qatar, which has never qualified for the World Cup finals, will be the first Middle East nation and Arab country to host the tournament. It will also be the smallest nation ever to host the World Cup.

"After the initial knee-jerk reaction (up), there was some profit-taking before the market gradually rose," said Shakeel Sarwar, head of asset management at Securities & Investment Co (SICO) in Bahrain.

"Developed markets are closed, but foreign investors should come in tomorrow so short-term traders probably built positions ahead of tomorrow's opening," Sarwar added.

In Egypt, Orascom Construction Industries ( OCI ) gained 4.1 percent as investors speculated it may win extra contracts in Qatar.

Some 59 million Egyptian pounds ($10 million) of shares in OCI changed hands on Sunday, making it the most active stock on the Egyptian Exchange.

"Qatar's World Cup deal is the name of the game," said Omar Darwish of CIBC Brokerage.

"It's driving OCI up 4 percent on very good volumes as they are expected to be awarded more contracts in Qatar."

The benchmark Egypt index added 1.1 percent to close at 6,726 points, with twelve stocks gaining.

Kuwait's Zain rebounded from Thursday's four week low, despite a shareholder threatening to sue potential buyers of the firm's Saudi unit.

Zain's shares gained 4.4 percent. It fell 2.9 percent on Thursday.

Abu Dhabi's Etisalat has agreed to buy a 46 percent stake in Zain in a deal led by the Kharafi group. This means Zain must sell its 25 percent stake in Zain Saudi to meet regulatory requirements because Etisalat already has a Saudi Arabia unit, Mobily.

"Zain doesn't have a certain trend -- it's all just speculation because no one knows whether the (Etisalat) deal will go through," said a Kuwait-based trader who asked not to be identified.

Kuwait's index gained 0.7 percent to 6,865 points.

In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All-Share index (TASI) dropped 0.29 percent to 6,403.2 points. The sector activity for the day was mixed with 8 out of 15 closing with gains ranging from 0.12 percent by the Cement sector to 1.18 percent by the Hotel & Tourism sector. On the other hand the losing sectors ranged from 0.10 percent by the Transport sector to 1.19 percent by the Banks & Financial Services sector. The overall market breadth for the day was negative with 59 advancers against 61 decliners giving it an AD ratio of 0.96, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily market report.

The Saudi stock market turnover reached SR2.70 billion.

The Omani index climbed 0.5 percent to 6,697 points.

The Bahraini index gained 0.3 percent to 1,422 points.

© Arab News 2010