Dubai, Saudi equities lead ME decline
Dubai - Dubai's benchmark DFM General Index ended its longest winning streak in almost three months.
Published: Mon 21 Dec 2015, 10:01 PM
Led by Dubai and Saudi bourses, almost every Middle Eastern stock index declined after oil plummeted to its lowest level in seven years on Sunday.
Dubai's benchmark DFM General Index ended its longest winning streak in almost three months, sliding 47 points or 1.53 per cent, the most in a week, to close at 3,026.05.
The Tadawul All Share Index in Saudi Arabia sank 1.66 per cent or 118 points to close at 6,928.49.
On the DFM, Emirates NBD's four per cent drop was the biggest contributor. Other major losers were Amlak, down 5.3 per cent, Ajman Bank (five per cent) and Al Salam (8.11 per cent). Top gainers were GGICO, du and Gulf Navigation.
Abu Dhabi's ADX General Index rose 0.2 per cent.
Elsewhere, Kuwait's SE Price Index slipped 0.9 per cent to the lowest level since July 2004.
Bahrain's gauge retreated 0.2 per cent to the weakest level in more than two years, while Oman's MSM 30 Index decreased 0.1 per cent. Qatar's stock market was closed for a public holiday.
A Bloomberg index of the leading 200 stocks in the region declined one per cent.
Egypt's benchmark EGX 30 Index climbed 0.7 per cent, its fifth day of gains, poised to match its longest winning streak since October.
Kuwait's government said it would proceed with plans to privatise the exchange in April, selling its stake to Kuwaiti and foreign institutions and leaving itself with as little as six per cent of the bourse.
In Egypt, Commercial International Bank Egypt led gains with a 2.4 per cent increase.
The fall in indices across the region reflect the crunch countries in the Gulf are feeling as the plunge in oil curbs government revenue.
Kuwait and Qatar said they will issue debt to cover rising budget deficits, even as bank liquidity is drying up and some central banks in the region raise borrowing costs in line with the Federal Reserve. Brent crude, a pricing benchmark for half the world's oil, dropped to $36.88 a barrel on Friday after a rise in the number of oil rigs in the US signaled the supply glut that sent prices tumbling will be prolonged
Al Rajhi Bank, one of the world's largest Islamic lenders, was the biggest contributor to the Tadawul's 1.5 per cent drop. The bank fell 3.4 per cent, the most since Oct. 1on a closing basis, as government deposits retreated this year.
Dana Gas was the most-traded stock in Abu Dhabi after it said it will get 50 per cent of its claims in a settlement with RWE.
- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com
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