Dana weighs on Abu Dhabi, region mixed

Dubai : After a strong opening on the back of last week’s firm oil prices, Gulf stock markets were mixed yesterday, with Dana Gas weighing on the Abu Dhabi exchange and Saudi index lost 0.3 per cent after rising in early trade.

Blue chip Saudi Basic Industries Corp lost 0.6pc despite reporting a 5.4pc rise in first-quarter net profit, broadly in line with analysts’ forecasts.

Islamic lender Alinma, one of the most heavily traded stocks, climbed 0.5pc early yesterday but had dropped 0.7pc by the market close. The bank reported a quarterly profit rise of 38pc year on
year.

In Dubai, the index was up 0.2pc, lifted by Shuaa Capital, the market’s most heavily traded stock, which gained 5.7pc to 1.11 dirhams ($0.3022).

Shuaa began rebounding from an 18-month low last Thursday and is testing technical resistance on its 200-day average, now at 1.14 dirhams, which it has not exceeded since June 2017.

The company said last week it had completed the acquisition of Integrated Capital and brokerage subsidiary Integrated Securities, which became the third company to offer technical short-selling services on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

Emaar Malls rose 1.4pc as it announced a first quarter net profit of 548 million dirhams yesterday, up from 539m dirhams one year earlier.

In Abu Dhabi, energy producer Dana Gas, by large the most traded stock yesterday, dropped 5pc, pushing the index down 0.2pc.

Late last week, an English court refused the company’s application to overturn a previous order restraining Dana Gas from distributing dividends to its shareholders for 2017.

A London high court judge ordered Dana to pay any dividends into an English bank account where the funds must be held until the company’s dispute with creditors over its $700m Islamic bond is resolved, sources told Reuters on Friday.

Qatar’s index gained 0.6pc as Industries Qatar rose 3.7pc after posting a 37pc rise in first-quarter net profit to 1.3 billion riyals ($357.06m); the average forecast of three analysts polled by Reuters had been 1.10bn riyals.