DUBAI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Stock markets in the Middle East where foreign funds are most active outperformed for a second straight day on Wednesday, with Egypt's index hitting a record high while Saudi Arabia was dragged lower by profit-taking.
Egypt's main index
.EGX30
gained 1.5 percent to 12,608 points in the highest trading volume this week, surpassing the intra-day record high of 12,534 points hit on Dec. 22.
Palm Hills Development
PHDC.CA
jumped 8.5 percent after saying it signed an agreement with the Ministry of Housing to buy a major plot in West Cairo to build a new project close to the company's existing developments.
Foreign investors, who have been net buyers of Egyptian shares since Egypt floated its currency two months ago, remained buyers on Wednesday, bourse data showed.
Qatar's index
.QSI
gained for a second session in row, closing 0.8 percent higher with 80 percent of shares in the index advancing. Real estate developer United Development
UDCD.QA
was the top performer, jumping 4.9 percent in heavy trade.
A monthly Reuters survey of leading Middle East fund managers at the end of December found them bullish on regional equities in general, especially the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where they intend to capture high annual dividend yields.
Dubai's index
.DFMGI
recouped early losses to close 0.4 percent higher as some of the largest listed shares were bid up. Emirates NBD
ENBD.DU
, which is usually thinly traded, gained 2.9 percent.
Dubai Islamic Bank
DISB.DU
rose 0.4 percent after saying it had completed the sale of its stake in Jordan Dubai Islamic Bank to Bank Al Etihad and Etihad Islamic Investment Co. DIB held 20.8 percent in the Jordanian bank; the value of the sale was not disclosed.
Saudi Arabia's stock market, which has little exposure to international funds, continued to underperform the region and the index
.TASI
lost 0.7 percent, its largest decline since Dec. 19. Trading volume was the lowest this week.
The petrochemical sector was the main drag after oil prices fell about 2 percent overnight; the sector's index
.TPISI
slipped 1.1 percent.
Mid-sized Advanced Petrochemical
2330.SE
, however, rose 0.2 percent after the company, the first to publish fourth- quarter earnings in the kingdom, reported quarterly net income of 210 million riyals ($56 million), up 44 percent from a year ago and beating NCB Capital's estimate of 198 million riyals.
WEDNESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index
.TASI
fell 0.7 percent to 7,198 points.
DUBAI
* The index
.DFMGI
rose 0.4 percent to 3,617 points.
ABU DHABI
* The index
.ADI
lost 0.1 percent to 4,588 points.
QATAR
* The index
.QSI
added 0.8 percent to 10,689 points.
EGYPT
* The index
.EGX30
gained 1.5 percent to 12,608 points.
KUWAIT
* The index
.KSWE
rose 0.2 percent to 5,788 points.
OMAN
* The index
.MSI
rose 0.4 percent to 5,757 points.
BAHRAIN
* The index
.BAX
lost 0.3 percent to 1,208 points. (Editing by Andrew Torchia and Adrian Croft) ((celine.aswad@thomsonreuters.com)(+971 5 6224 7653)(Reuters Messaging: celine.aswad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
