Dubai markets rise, led by real estate shares; other stocks subdued

Dubai’s markets rose on Thursday as real estate shares gained, while most other markets were little changed before corporate results due to pick up next week.

The Dubai index added 0.5%, led by a 1.4% gain in its largest lender, Emirates NBD, and a 0.8% rise in Emaar Properties.

The developer has been rising since Monday after its Egyptian subsidiary, Emaar Misr Development, initially agreed with El Nasr Housing and Development to settle a dispute on Uptown Cairo land.

The Saudi index was up 0.2%. Al Rajhi Bank rose 0.6% and Alinma Bank gained 1.6%.

Investment bank EFG Hermes forecast 7.6% growth year-on-year in second-quarter profit for the Saudi Arabia’s financial sector.

Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insurance surged 2.7% after it won a medical insurance contract worth over 5% of its revenue last year.

In Qatar, the index dropped 0.4%. The Gulf’s largest bank, Qatar National Bank, lost 1.1% despite posting a 4% increase in first-half net profit.

However, Qatar Gas Transport gained 0.4% after reporting a 7% jump in first-half net profit.

Kuwait’s index slid 0.2%, weighed down by financial stocks. The index had risen for the last 10 sessions, triggered by MSCI’s decision to move Kuwaiti equities to its main emerging-market index in 2020.

Kuwait has outperformed its Gulf peers in anticipation of the MSCI move, and is still up over 28% year-to-date.

The Abu Dhabi index eased 0.2%, pressured by First Abu Dhabi Bank, which lost 0.4%.

But Aldar Properties was up 1%, extending its gains for a second day. On Wednesday, the property developer was awarded 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion) of development projects from the Abu Dhabi government. ($1 = 3.6728 UAE dirham) (Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru, editing by Larry King)

Source: Reuters