Most Gulf bourses slip in early trade, Saudi firm

Most Gulf bourses were weak in early trade Wednesday as investors booked profits, while Saudi Arabia’s index inched up.

Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Petrochemical surged 3.5 percent after the company announced plans to increase its share capital by 20 percent to support future growth. The company also said it recommended distributing a cash dividend of 0.75 riyal per share for the first quarter.

“We expect the company will distribute 3.0 riyals per share for 2016. If annualised, the dividend yield will be 6 percent,” said a note by NCB Capital. The range of dividend yields is between 4 and 9 percent for Saudi petrochemical producers, according to Reuters data.

Banking shares also outperformed the market, with heavyweights Samba Financial Group and National Commercial Bank adding 0.5 and 0.2 percent respectively.

The overall market index was up 0.1 percent after an hour of trade.

Dubai’s index failed to hold onto early gains as investors booked profits in small and mid-sized companies. Builder Drake & Scull dropped 1.1 percent.

But Islamic insurer Takaful Emarat rose 2.6 percent in unusually high volume.

Dubai Parks and Resorts edged up 0.8 percent. Wednesday is the final day of trade in its rights issue, which will increase its share capital to 8 billion dirhams ($2.2 billion).

Abu Dhabi’s index dipped 0.2 percent amid a sell-off in mid-sized property-related shares such as Eshraq Properties and RAK Properties, which were down 2.6 and 3.3 percent respectively.

Doha’s index edged down 0.3 percent as Qatar National Bank fell 0.5 percent.

Source: Reuters