DUBAI: Saudi Basic Industries (Sabic) helped lift Riyadh’s stock market yesterday after it reported a third-quarter net profit at the top end of forecasts, but a loss at Qatar’s third- largest bank dragged that market lower. Egypt slid for a fourth straight session.
In Qatar, the index closed down 0.3 percent as Commercial Bank of Qatar dropped 4.8 percent. Medicare Group sank 2.9 percent. Qatar Insurance fell 0.7 percent.
Riyadh’s stock index rebounded 1.1 percent, ending three days of declines and trimming its loss since Sunday to 3.0 percent. Sabic, the Gulf’s largest petrochemical producer, climbed 1.8 percent to SR84.00 after posting a net profit of SR5.22bn ($1.39bn) in the three months to September 30, down 6.8 percent from a year ago. Analysts polled by Reuters had on average predicted SR5.05bn.
Riyad Capital said in a note that although Sabic’s sales dipped on a quarterly and yearly basis, margins expanded to offset some of that negative impact. It raised its target price for Sabic to SR86.00 from SR80.00 but maintained a “neutral” rating.
“We have increased gross margin assumptions for the full year and beyond as global petrochemical spreads have been healthy.” Roughly two-thirds of Saudi petrochemical producers have now reported third-quarter earnings, with generally weak results.
Yesterday it made a loss of 32.6m riyals versus a loss of 24.0m in the same period of 2015; its shares closed flat.
Middle East Healthcare jumped 7.8 percent after its quarterly net income rose 1.4 percent to 92m riyals. The positive mood spilled into some shares that were hit earlier this week by disappointing results.
Lender Saudi Hollandi rebounded 2.4 percent. But Emaar the Economic City, developer of an industrial city near Jeddah, dropped 1.6 percent after reporting a third-quarter net loss of 81m riyals versus a profit of 8m riyals a year ago.
In Dubai, the index built positive momentum in the last hour of trade to close up 0.1 percent. No major companies posted fresh results; DXB Entertainments climbed 3.3 percent ahead of opening its theme parks at the end of this month.
Gains in blue chips helped boost Abu Dhabi’s stock index 0.9 percent. First Gulf Bank added 1.8 percent, trimming its losses to 1.3 percent since Sunday.
In Cairo, the index of the 30 most valuable shares pulled back 0.7 percent in modest volume. Heliopolis Co for Housing lost 0.6 percent after reporting a 47.9 percent drop in quarterly net profit.
SAUDI ARABIA: The index rebounded 1.1 percent to 5,523 points. DUBAI: The index rose 0.1 percent to 3,319 points. ABU DHABI: The index gained 0.9 percent to 4,309 points. EGYPT: The index slipped 0.7 percent to 8,160 points. QATAR: The index fell 0.3 percent to 10,452 points. KUWAIT: The index rose 0.6 percent to 5,315 points. OMAN: The index edged up 0.2 percent to 5,593 points. BAHRAIN: The index rose 0.7 percent to 1,144 points.
