Gulf shares decline

Gulf stocks mostly fell yesterday, with financials pulling down Qatar, while Saudi Arabia’s stock index traded flat as energy and property shares moved sideways. The Qatari index declined 0.8 per cent with all its financial stocks retreating. Qatar National Bank, the Gulf ’s largest lender, dropped 1.6pc and Qatar Islamic Bank eased 1.2pc.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index was little changed. Samba Financial Group shed 2.2pc and Saudi Aramco ended 0.6pc lower. Dar Al Arkan gained 1.5pc and Makkah Construction was up 1.7pc. Saudi Industrial Services rose 2.8pc after its Red Sea Gateway Terminal unit signed a new 30-year concession with the Saudi ports authority to develop the northern part of Jeddah port.

The Dubai index slipped 0.2 pc as Mashreq Bank plunged 7.8% and Air Arabia fell 1.3pc. Emaar Properties was flat. The developer said that it was considering raising capital against cash flows generated by the observation decks on its Burj Khalifa skyscraper, but was not looking at selling them. In Abu Dhabi, the index lost 0.6pc.

First Abu Dhabi Bank fell 1pc and National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain dropped 9.5pc. The head of global markets at First Abu Dhabi Bank has resigned, Reuters reported on Monday, citing two sources. Dana Gas gained 0.7pc after getting a one-off $42 million dividend payment from Pearl Petroleum in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index traded 0.7pc lower with 25 of its 30 stocks in the red. Commercial International bank was down 0.6pc and El Sewedy Electric down 2pc.