PHOTO
DUBAI- An overnight surge in the Brent oil price
LCOc1
above $67 a barrel for the first time since May 2015 helped most Gulf stock markets rise on Wednesday, while Dubai rebounded modestly from a six-month low.
The Saudi stock index
.TASI
closed 0.3 percent higher in active trading volume, though it came off an early high as the oil price retreated from its peak on Wednesday afternoon.
Eleven of 13 Saudi petrochemical producers, whose margins could benefit from dearer oil, rose. The biggest, Saudi Basic Industries
2010.SE
, added 0.6 percent.
Construction firms were also strong on hopes that higher oil revenues would give the government money to boost infrastructure spending next year; Khodari
1330.SE
rose 2.2 percent.
Dubai's index
.DFMGI
rose 0.4 percent in a broad-based rally, with Shuaa Capital
SHUA.DU
surging 5.1 percent. But volume was thin except for Al Safwa Mubasher Financial Services
SFWAMUBASHER.DU
, which saw 268 million shares change hands - more than half the market's entire volume, and almost half the number of the company's outstanding shares.
Safwa Mubasher, which rarely trades, plunged 10 percent to 0.999 dirham. Ehab Rashad, chief executive of Safwa Mubasher, told Reuters that the company completed on Wednesday an internal transaction that involved moving over 276 million shares from a Bahrain-based affiliate to its Dubai parent, Mubasher Holding.
Abu Dhabi's index
.ADI
surged 1.2 percent on the back of two companies which could benefit from higher oil prices: Dana Gas
DANA.AD
, up 2.6 percent, and fuel distributor ADNOC Distribution
ADNO.AD
, which was 2.4 percent higher.
Qatar's index
.QSI
was almost flat but drilling rig provider Gulf International Services
GISS.QA
, another possible beneficiary of a stronger oil industry, gained 2.3 percent.
HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index
.TASI
rose 0.3 percent to 7,201 points.
DUBAI
* The index
.DFMGI
gained 0.4 percent to 3,346 points.
ABU DHABI
* The index
.ADI
rose 1.2 percent to 4,369 points.
QATAR
* The index
.QSI
edged down 0.01 percent to 8,500 points.
EGYPT
* The index
.EGX30
edged down 0.1 percent to 14,905 points.
KUWAIT
* The index
.KWSE
edged up 0.03 percent to 6,371 points.
BAHRAIN
* The index
.BAX
rose 0.8 percent to 1,295 points.
OMAN
* The index
.MSI
gained 0.7 percent to 5,040 points.
(Additional reporting by Tom Arnold; editing by Andrew Roche) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6681 7277)(Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
The Saudi stock index
Eleven of 13 Saudi petrochemical producers, whose margins could benefit from dearer oil, rose. The biggest, Saudi Basic Industries
Construction firms were also strong on hopes that higher oil revenues would give the government money to boost infrastructure spending next year; Khodari
Dubai's index
Safwa Mubasher, which rarely trades, plunged 10 percent to 0.999 dirham. Ehab Rashad, chief executive of Safwa Mubasher, told Reuters that the company completed on Wednesday an internal transaction that involved moving over 276 million shares from a Bahrain-based affiliate to its Dubai parent, Mubasher Holding.
Abu Dhabi's index
Qatar's index
HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index
DUBAI
* The index
ABU DHABI
* The index
QATAR
* The index
EGYPT
* The index
KUWAIT
* The index
BAHRAIN
* The index
OMAN
* The index
(Additional reporting by Tom Arnold; editing by Andrew Roche) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6681 7277)(Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))