Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upswing trend yesterday, adding 12.64 points or 0.14 percent to advance to 8,858.29 points from 8,845.65 on Tuesday.
The volume of shares traded rose to 12,155,718 from 11,443,141 on Tuesday and the value of shares increased to QR567,160,025.08 from QR415,045,981.64 on Tuesday.
Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank which was up 1.05 percent to QR144, Qatar Telecom rose 0.69 percent to QR116.30, Gulf International gained 0.75 percent to QR40.50 and United Development Company rose by 1.23 percent to QR19.74.
The banking and financial sector index was up 0.29 points while consumer goods and services sector index added 0.24 points. The industrial sector gained 0.15 points while insurance sector rose 0.19 points.
Meanwhile, Dubai builder Arabtec jumped to a two-month high yesterday on market talk the firm’s planned rights issue may be priced lower than previously expected.
Shares in Arabtec surged 9.9 percent to 2.33 dirhams, their highest close since March 3.
Arabtec, part-owned by Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, previously stated that by June-end it would raise Dh2.4bn ($650m) through a rights issue at Dh1.50 per share.
Traders said there is speculation that the rights issue price might be lowered, making existing shares more valuable.
“If this is true, it looks interesting and more attractive to investors,” said Musa Haddad, head of investment advisory services at National Bank of Abu Dhabi.
Arabtec declined to comment on the stock’s move or the rights issue when contacted by Reuters on Wednesday.
Dubai’s benchmark climbed 0.6 percent, extending 2013 gains to 33.3 percent.
Abu Dhabi’s measure advanced 0.1 percent, up for a fifth straight session, while Qatar’s index rose by the same margin to hit a 13-month high.
“We are positive on the regional markets — if there is no unexpected negative impact from the global economy, we see fundamentals getting stronger,” said a Dubai-based fund manager.
In Saudi Arabia, the bourse rose for a first session in four. It added 0.3 percent to extend year-to-date gains to 6 percent, lagging most Gulf markets.
Petrochemical and banking sectors made marginal gains with the respective benchmarks and up 0.5 and 0.3 percent.
“We’re not seeing local incentives — a lot of companies are at fair value and there is uncertainty in big sectors, petrochemicals and banks,” said Abdullah Alawi, assistant general manager and head of research at Aljazira Capital.
“The market will be range-bound unless we hear of new local catalysts.”
Elsewhere, Kuwait’s benchmark slipped 0.6 percent, easing from Tuesday’s 42-month high.
Traders said news of Kuwait’s state chemicals company paying $2.2 billion in damages to Dow Chemical Co hurt market sentiment.
Egypt’s measure rose 0.6 percent to an eight-week high of 5,404 points.
“The EGX30 witnessed a significant breakout after breaking its 5,300 minor resistance,” said Pharos Research in a research note. “We believe that the probability that the index reaches the 5,900 resistance area is high.”
Thinly-traded Aluminium Bahrain jumped 7 percent after posting a first-quarter net profit that nearly doubled compared to the year-earlier period.
QNA/Reuters
