DUBAI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Middle East stock markets were mixed on Sunday as uptrends in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait continued to divert regional investors' money away from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
The Saudi index
.TASI
, which climbed 3.8 percent last week, rose a further 0.7 percent. Miner Ma'aden
1211.SE
jumped 5.3 percent after issuing a statement describing progress in expanding its phosphate and bauxite operations.
Builder Khodari
1330.SE
climbed 1.5 percent and Nama Chemicals
2210.SE
jumped by its 10 percent daily limit for a second straight day after announcing the outline of a plan to recover from accumulated losses that exceeded 75 percent of its capital. The plan includes eventually increasing capital to finance production of speciality chemical products and boost capacity, and the sale of assets of an investment affiliate.
The Kuwaiti index
.KWSE
added 1.3 percent to touch a fresh 26-month high in a broad-based climb and heavy volumes, bringing its rise this month to nearly 21 percent.
On Monday, the government is to announce details of its long-term economic development plan, which could help the stock market if it gives more impetus to big infrastructure projects.
Telecommunications firm Viva Kuwait
VIVA.KW
fell 2.2 percent, however, after reporting a 6.8 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit to 10.8 million dinars ($35 million); SICO Bahrain had forecast 9.44 million dinars.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nD5N1F001B
Dubai's index
.DFMGI
slipped 1 percent as GFH Financial
GFH.DU
, the most heavily traded stock, plunged by its 10 percent daily limit. The stock, a speculative favourite of local investors, has been very volatile in the past week.
Abu Dhabi
.ADI
dropped 0.8 percent. Another speculative stock, International Fish Farming (Asmak)
ASMK.AD
, sank 10 percent to 2.92 dirhams.
It had soared from 1.90 dirhams at the end of last month to a peak of 4.65 dirhams, partly because of a rumour that a well-known Abu Dhabi individual investor had bought a strategic stake in the company. But in mid-January, an Asmak spokesman told Reuters that the rumour was false, and the stock has been falling back since then.
Qatar's index
.QSI
lost 1 percent because of pullbacks by a few major banks; Qatar National Bank
QNBK.QA
slid 1.4 percent and Masraf Al Rayan
MARK.QA
lost 3.4 percent.
Egypt's index
.EGX30
, which had climbed 1.6 percent on Thursday in response to the success of the government's international bond sale, gained 0.6 percent.
Orascom Telecom
OTMT.CA
, the most heavily traded stock, bounced 8 percent after underperforming the market last week.
SUNDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index
.TASI
rose 0.7 percent to 7,183 points.
DUBAI
* The index
.DFMGI
fell 1.0 percent to 3,666 points.
ABU DHABI
* The index
.ADI
dropped 0.8 percent to 4,587 points.
QATAR
* The index
.QSI
fell 1.0 percent to 10,885 points.
EGYPT
* The index
.EGX30
climbed 0.5 percent to 13,162 points.
KUWAIT
* The index
.KSWE
gained 1.3 percent to 6,943 points.
OMAN
* The index
.MSI
added 0.2 percent to 5,763 points.
BAHRAIN
* The index
.BAX
rose 0.2 percent to 1,302 points. (Editing by Susan Fenton) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6681 7277)(Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
