DUBAI, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait continued uptrends on Wednesday, attracting regional investors' money away from the United Arab Emirates, which pulled back.
The Saudi index
.TASI
rose 0.5 percent, climbing for a fifth straight day. It has been buoyed by hopes for better conditions in the non-oil sector this year as government austerity measures slow.
Builder Khodari
1330.SE
, which has been strong in the past week on expectations for a partial recovery of the Saudi construction market, gained 2.6 percent.
Mouwasat Medical Services
4002.SE
, which jumped 3.5 percent on Tuesday after its board recommended a higher cash dividend for 2016, added a further 3.7 percent to 147.50 riyals. HSBC raised its target for the stock to 152 riyals from 144, with a "buy" rating.
The petrochemical sector was firm with industry leader Saudi Basic Industries
2010.SE
climbing 1.6 percent.
Kuwait's index
.KWSE
, which has surged nearly 19 percent this month as idle local and regional funds have poured into the market to catch its momentum, rose 1.1 percent in heavy trade.
Activity focused on real estate companies; Abyaar Real Estate
ABYR.KW
jumped 6.9 percent.
The fireworks in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait left Dubai and Abu Dhabi neglected. Dubai's index
.DFMGI
slipped 1.1 percent to 3,679 points, failing a test of technical resistance on its January peak of 3,737 points. Abu Dhabi
.ADI
sank 1.6 percent.
Real estate firm Deyaar
DEYR.DU
dropped 5.0 percent after its fourth-quarter profit more than halved. Builder Drake & Scull
DSI
was another big loser, falling 4.9 percent in volatile trade.
The most heavily traded Dubai stock, speculative favourite GFH Financial
GFH.DU
, plunged 9.7 percent to 2.43 dirhams after opening sharply higher. The company's Bahrain-listed shares
GFHB.BH
soared 9.5 percent to $0.695, however, moving to a slight premium to the Dubai-listed shares from a sizeable discount.
Dubai Islamic Bank
DISB.DU
added 0.5 percent after posting a 58.4 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit to 1.37 billion dirhams ($373 million), well above analysts' average forecast of 850.4 million dirhams.
In Qatar, the index
.QSI
fell 0.2 percent as Qatar Insurance
QINS.QA
lost 1.8 percent after reporting a 9 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit.
Egypt's market was closed for a national holiday.
WEDNESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index
.TASI
rose 0.5 percent to 7,128 points.
DUBAI
* The index
.DFMGI
fell 1.1 percent to 3,679 points.
ABU DHABI
* The index
.ADI
dropped 1.6 percent to 4,607 points.
QATAR
* The index
.QSI
fell 0.2 percent to 11,036 points.
KUWAIT
* The index
.KSWE
climbed 1.1 percent to 6,819 points.
OMAN
* The index
.MSI
edged down 0.03 percent to 5,765 points.
BAHRAIN
* The index
.BAX
surged 1.8 percent to 1,300 points. (Editing by Larry King) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6681 7277)(Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))