Saudi stocks flat, Egypt dips at early Tuesday

Saudi Arabia’s stock market was flat in early trade Tuesday as retreating shares in food company Savola offset gains elsewhere, while the Egyptian bourse fell after negative comments from one of the country’s wealthiest businessman, Naguib Sawiris.

The main Saudi index was unchanged as Savola’s gave up the previous day’s gains. Its shares were down by 1 percent, having jumped by 4 percent on Monday after Bloomberg reported that it has joined with Singapore’s Temasek Holdings to bid for Kuwait Food Co (Americana).

The petrochemicals index inched 0.1 percent higher as the price of Brent crude, which affects the sector’s margins, climbed 1 percent to $48.10 a barrel.

Egypt’s index fell 1.5 percent, with most stocks in the red after Orascom Telecom, Media and Technology CEO Naguib Sawiris said on Monday that he had not invested any of the $500 million he pledged to his country in March because of the slow pace of reforms promised by the government.

Sawiris blamed bureaucracy and mid-level officials in Egypt for what he described as “stagnation”.

Source: Reuters