UAE, Saudi markets surge on banks; Industries Qatar weighs

Most major Gulf stock markets rose on Tuesday led by financial stocks, though Qatar was marginally lower, weighed down by heavyweight Industries Qatar.

Saudi Arabia’s main index lifted 0.4%, its seventh straight rise on the back of banks. The index has been up since EFG Hermes forecast the kingdom’s financial sector would see 7.6% growth in second-quarter profit, year-on-year .

Al Rajhi Bank gained 0.4%, while National Commercial Bank was up 0.7%.

The Dubai index edged up 0.2% with Emirates NBD rising 0.9%. DXB Entertainment lifted 1.5%, a day after the theme park company reported 5% growth in second-quarter visits from a year earlier.

Amlak Finance soared 6.5% on a media report that the firm was close to restructuring $1.2 billion of loans with creditors.

In Abu Dhabi, the index added 0.3% driven by the country’s largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank, which rose 0.5% and Emirates Telecommunications, which increased 0.4%.

Kuwait’s index declined 0.1 – its third straight day of losses, retreating from a spate of gains triggered by MSCI’s decision to move Kuwaiti equities to its main emerging-market index in 2020.

The index is still up more than 27% year-to-date, outperforming its Gulf peers.

Qatar’s index slid 0.1% with market heavyweight Industries Qatar losing 0.8%. Lender Masraf Al Rayan was up 0.5% after it posted slightly higher second-quarter profit. (Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: Reuters