Qatar smarts from MSCI decision, Gulf mostly moves little
Qatar’s stock market continued to suffer in early trade on Thursday from MSCI’s decision to exclude two of its major stocks in a semi-annual index review, while the rest of the Gulf moved little.
The Qatar index fell for a third straight session, dropping 0.5 percent after 90 minutes. Qatar Fuel, which had plunged 10 percent on Wednesday after MSCI decided against market expectations not to include the stock in its global indexes for now, dived a further 6.2 percent.
Mesaieed Petrochemical, which had lost 1.5 percent on Wednesday after it was also excluded, fell a further 1.2 percent. Doha Bank dropped 0.7 percent; it had lost 6.3 percent on Wednesday after MSCI decided to move it to a small cap index from the Qatar standard index.
Qatar Petroleum said on Wednesday that the $750 million initial public offer of its aluminium unit QAMCO was more than 2.5 times subscribed. QAMCO will begin trading on the Qatar exchange in December.
Saudi Arabia’s index edged up 0.2 percent with petrochemical and bank stocks stabilising after sinking earlier this week because of the sharp fall in global oil prices.
Al Tayyar Travel rose 3.4 percent after dropping slightly on the previous day, when MSCI said it would move the stock to a small cap index from its main Saudi Arabia index.
Saudi Cement lost 3.6 percent. It has been retreating in the past three days after soaring by more than a third in the previous three weeks, partly because of hopes that a possible end to the Yemen war could boost cement demand for reconstruction.
In Dubai, the index lost 0.2 percent, weighed down by real estate firms. The region’s largest listed developer, Emaar Properties, dropped 0.4 percent after posting a 29 percent fall in third-quarter profit.
DAMAC Properties fell 1.0 percent after earlier this week reporting a drop in profit for the same period.
The Dubai exchange suspended trade in Drake and Scull shares, saying it had not submitted its results.
Abu Dhabi’s index was up 0.1 percent but Aldar Properties dropped 0.6 percent after a 30 percent fall in third-quarter profit.
Source: Reuters
