PHOTO
DUBAI- Gulf stock markets moved little on Wednesday as Saudi Arabian cement shares lost steam after the release of the 2018 state budget, and Qatar's market pulled back after a leap on Tuesday.
The Saudi index
.TASI
edged up 0.2 percent as cement shares, which had surged in the days before the release of the budget as investors anticipated an increase in infrastructure spending, ran into profit-taking. Yanbu Cement
3060.SE
fell 1.8 percent.
The budget was seen positively by the market; the government said it planned to increase total spending to a record 978 billion riyals ($261 billion) in 2018, from 890 billion riyals in the original 2017 budget plan and 926 billion riyals of actual spending this year. King Salman formally announced the target date for eliminating the budget deficit would be pushed back to 2023 from 2020.
"In our view the budget is expansionary - it calls for the right approach," said Santhosh Balakrishnan, assistant vice-president at Riyad Capital.
"What lies ahead is the green shoots of recovery in construction-allied sectors, especially cement. This suggests the worst is behind us."
But a moderately expansionary budget had already largely been priced into the stock market, and there are still doubts about the effectiveness of some of the planned stimulus steps, such as offers of soft loans extended by state funds.
London-based Capital Economics said actual 2017 spending data showed the government had already started to loosen fiscal policy earlier than expected, and because of this, Capital raised its economic growth forecast for 2018 to 1.5 percent from 0.8 percent.
"That said, the budget is likely to disappoint those who were hoping for substantial policy loosening to support the economy," it said, adding that unless there was a significant, further rise in oil prices, there would be little room for the government to provide additional stimulus to the economy in the next five years.
In Qatar, the index
.QSI
edged down 0.03 percent in active trade after surging 3.8 percent on Tuesday to its highest level since late September as retail investors flocked back into the market.
Dubai's index
.DFMGI
rose 0.3 percent on the back of a 2.3 percent gain by blue chip Emaar Properties
EMAR.DU
, which has been trading near its lows for the year.
But its affiliate Emaar Development
EMAARDEV.DU
, which listed last month after an initial public offer at a price of 6.03 dirhams a share, fell 1.3 percent to a record closing low of 5.15 dirhams.
District cooling firm Tabreed
TABR.DU
, which is usually thinly traded, was the most active stock and dropped 1.1 percent. The stock recorded its highest volume since June.
HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index
.TASI
edged up 0.2 percent to 7,213 points.
DUBAI
* The index
.DFMGI
rose 0.3 percent to 3,370 points.
ABU DHABI
* The index
.ADI
fell 0.2 percent to 4,359 points.
QATAR
* The index
.QSI
edged down 0.03 percent to 8,520 points.
EGYPT
* The index
.EGX30
edged up 0.03 percent to 14,682 points.
KUWAIT
* The index
.KWSE
fell 0.6 percent to 6,384 points.
BAHRAIN
* The index
.BAX
dropped 0.3 percent to 1,265 points.
OMAN
* The index
.MSI
was flat at 5,070 points.
(reporting by Andrew Torchia Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6681 7277)(Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
The Saudi index
The budget was seen positively by the market; the government said it planned to increase total spending to a record 978 billion riyals ($261 billion) in 2018, from 890 billion riyals in the original 2017 budget plan and 926 billion riyals of actual spending this year. King Salman formally announced the target date for eliminating the budget deficit would be pushed back to 2023 from 2020.
"In our view the budget is expansionary - it calls for the right approach," said Santhosh Balakrishnan, assistant vice-president at Riyad Capital.
"What lies ahead is the green shoots of recovery in construction-allied sectors, especially cement. This suggests the worst is behind us."
But a moderately expansionary budget had already largely been priced into the stock market, and there are still doubts about the effectiveness of some of the planned stimulus steps, such as offers of soft loans extended by state funds.
London-based Capital Economics said actual 2017 spending data showed the government had already started to loosen fiscal policy earlier than expected, and because of this, Capital raised its economic growth forecast for 2018 to 1.5 percent from 0.8 percent.
"That said, the budget is likely to disappoint those who were hoping for substantial policy loosening to support the economy," it said, adding that unless there was a significant, further rise in oil prices, there would be little room for the government to provide additional stimulus to the economy in the next five years.
In Qatar, the index
Dubai's index
But its affiliate Emaar Development
District cooling firm Tabreed
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
(reporting by Andrew Torchia Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6681 7277)(Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))