Major markets sag, Dubai’s DSI surges after loss

Dubai : Major Gulf stock markets fell yesterday, partly because of retreating global equities and oil prices, though builder Drake & Scull surged in Dubai despite a heavy quarterly loss.

The Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (CMA) issued a statement before the market opened saying that listed companies would be exempt from publishing fourth-quarter financial statements because they are transitioning to the International Financial Reporting Standards style of accounting.

This surprised many fund managers, but the Arabic version of the statement said the exemption applied to “preliminary” financial statements, which seemed to imply that companies would still have to release final statements at a later date.

The CMA did not respond to a request for comment.

Under CMA rules, interim financial statements must be released within 30 days of the end of each period and annual statements within three months of the end of the financial year.

The Saudi index spent most of the day only slightly lower but its losses snowballed towards the close and it finished 1pc down. Real Estate developer Dar Al Arkan , which had risen in recent days after strong quarterly earnings, plunged by nearly 10pc.

Petrochemicals company Chemanol fell by 4.8pc after jumping by its 10pc daily limit on Tuesday.

Saudi Industrial Export, which this week proposed a capital reduction to write off accumulated losses, slid 5.7pc.

The Dubai index fell 0.6pc. But Drake & Scull, the most heavily traded stock, gained 4.1pc after reporting a third-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders of 317.6 million dirhams ($86.5 million) versus a loss of 46.3 million dirhams a year ago.

Qatar’s index, still feeling the effects of sanctions imposed on Doha by other Arab states since June, sank 1.4pc to its lowest since March 2011. Inflation data released late on Tuesday showed the downturn in Qatar’s real estate market deepened in October because of the sanctions. Housing and utility prices sank 5.4pc last month from a year earlier -- the biggest drop for several years.

Egypt’s index dropped 0.8pc as Global Telecom lost 1.6pc to 7.40 Egyptian pounds. It had jumped last week after VEON Holdings, its parent, said it planned a mandatory tender offer for Global shares at 7.90 pounds.