Gulf markets fall

Dubai: Middle East stock markets fell yesterday as investors booked profits following a pull-back in oil prices and international stock markets, but some Saudi Arabian real estate shares bucked the owntrend because of the kingdom’s economic reform plan. Bahrain index lost 0.3 per cent to 1,116 points.

Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development added 7.5pc after a 20pc jump last week. It has been strong since the developer said last week that it was in talks with the government to provide housing under the reform policies.

Emaar Economic City, another company which announced last week that it plans to build homes with the Ministry of Housing, advanced 1.7pc.

The petrochemical sector was the main drag on Riyadh’s stock index, which sank 0.6pc. Saudi Basic Industries lost 1.2pc.

Dubai’s index, the top performer in the region last week, lost 1.0pc to 3,336 points, failing a test of technical resistance on the mid-May peak of 3,373 points.

Over nine-tenths of traded stocks declined, with Emaar Properties losing 2.0pc and builder Arabtec down 2.1pc.

Abu Dhabi’s main index declined 0.3pc, extending Thursday’s losses, with banking shares the main drag. Union National Bank dropped 1.5pc.

Egypt’s most heavily traded stock, Orascom Telecom Media , slumped 5.7pc. Cairo’s main index retreated 1.4pc.

In other markets, Kuwait edged up 0.2pc to 5,422 points, while Oman declined 0.3pc to 5,868 points.