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Credit Suisse favours Drake & Scull over Arabtec
September 08, 2011--The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) finished the week with loss of half a percent, closing at 1,480.60 points amid rising trading volumes. The FTSE NASDAQ Dubai UAE 20 Index also lost half a percent,
closing at 1507.95. While bellwether Emaar Properties ended unchanged, Arabtec Construction (off 0.72% at Dhs1.37) weighed on the index. Credit Suisse published a research study today, reiterating the Swiss bank's preference for Drake and Scull International or DSI (up 0.69% at Dhs0.878) over Arabtec. "We forecast DSI's backlog to grow at a compound annual growth rate (2010-2013E) of 12.6% vs. -11.6% for Arabtec. We believe it would be challenging for Arabtec to achieve backlog growth in 2011-2012E due to continued focus on real estate projects (86% of the backlog in Q2 2011), in addition to potential cancellations risks of some projects in outstanding backlog. Accordingly, we forecast Arabtec's earnings to decline by 50% year-on-year," the Credit Suisse research report says. Over the first week of Eid, the DFM gained insignificantly. Some 76.3m shares were traded, valued at Dhs70.3m.
Iraq aims to reach inflation of 5% next year
September 08, 2011--Iraq's finance minister has said that his country is aiming to reach inflation of 5% next
year backed by central bank policies to control price growth, Reuters has reported. Iraq's core annual inflation rate quickened to 7.1% in July from 6.4% in June, driven mainly by higher housing rental prices.
Stocks in Riyadh gain across all sectors
September 07, 2011--The Tadawul bourse closed one percent higher at 6,124.4 points, as Sabic gained 1.89%,
reaching SR94.50. Insurers were once again the leading advancing shares, with Solidarity Saudi Takaful Co. (up 9.93%) closing as the top gainer. Hundred-and-twenty-five shares added value, while 25 declined.
Shares of National Bank of Kuwait recover strongly
September 07, 2011--The KSE Market Index added 0.81%, closing at 5,908.2 points. Abyaar Real Estate and Development Co. was the most liquid share and jumped four percent higher to reach KD0.026.
Global Investment House in Kuwait commented on the country's real estate market earlier today: "In Kuwait, the residential segment maintained its position as the most buoyant segment in Kuwait’s reality market. The private housing segment remained active amounting for 55% of total transactions value in 2Q11, similar to the same share in 1Q11 with a 19% increase in the number of transactions. The increase was associated with a significant 52% increase in transaction value at KD527m up from KD347m in 1Q11." The lagest lender in the northern Gulf state National Bank of Kuwait finished up 3.85% at KD1.080.
Qatar market gains 0.67%, as real estate firms edge higher
September 07, 2011--The Qatar Exchange (QE) Index closed at 8,398.28, up 0.67% on Wednesday. Qatar's largest real estate developers United Development Company (UDC) and Barwa Real Estate gained 0.35% and half a percent, respectively.
Earlier in the day, Kuwait-based Global Investment House, "Activity in the Qatari property sales market is still muted due to the large disparity between buyer’s expectations and sellers quoted prices. In the office market, with new projects being delivered, the amount of office space in the market remains abundant and is unmet by the existent demand."
Methaq Takaful cracks key resistance level
September 07, 2011--The Abu Dhabi-based exchange ADX declined by 0.15% and closed at 2,601.02 points. The emirate's largest real estate developer Aldar Properties ended 0.82% higher at Dhs1.23.
Islamic insurance company Methaq Takaful was the most liquid stock and jumped two percent, reaching Dhs1.52. With today's move Methaq Takaful has crossed a long-term resistance level at Dhs1.50. Trading volumes remained very low as some 38.3m shares were traded, valued at Dhs58.2m.
Foreign banks continue to dominate Dubai market
September 07, 2011--The DFM General Index added 0.20%, closing at 1,487.98 points. Emaar as the most liquid share closed 0.35% higher at Dhs2.85. Islamic home financing company Tamweel ended up 3.52% at Dhs0.824.
But Wednesday's trading session was again dominated by Kuwaiti banks: Global Investment House (up 12.80% at Dhs0.62) posted the largest advance, while Bahrain's Gulf Finance House, a 100% Shari'ah-compliant investment bank, added 2.88%, finishing at Dhs0.535. Gary Dugan, CIO Private Banking at bank Emirates NBD notes in his latest commentary, that since Eid, "The MENA equity and bond markets have to date been less volatile than their developed market counterparts." He concludes, however, that "The acid test however is likely to come through the next couple of months as the impact of the global slowdown is felt more widely. In Dubai it will be interesting to see whether the hospitality sector continues trade strongly through the late October holiday season."
Tadawul market loses half a percent
September 06, 2011--The TASI benchmark closed at 6,061.53, off 0.48%. Sabic ended 0.54% lower at SR92.75. Insurers were again the winners
of the day, with Islamic insurer SABB Takaful gaining 4.18% to reach SR16.20. Forty-five stocks gained, 79 lost and 21 ended even.
Kuwait market continues to gain ground
September 06, 2011--The KSE Market Index ended 0.14% higher at 5,860.9 points. In a lacklustre session, banks mostly gained, while other sector indexes did not post big movements. According to Global Investment House,
whose shares surged 7.5% to KD0.0355, "in the GCC, all bourses ended the month of August 2011 on a lower note, led by the Saudi market, which shed 6.46 percent of its value by the end of the month. Kuwait Stock Exchange followed, down by 3.97 percent as measured by KSE Price index, while market cap weighted, Global General index (GGI), retreated by 3.12 percent by the end of the month."
Gulf Finance House shares help Bahrain Bourse to stabilise
September 06, 2011--The Bahrain Bourse closed unchanged at 1,261.04 points. Islamic investment house Gulf Finance House, known as GFH, surged 8.33% to reach $0.130, while Bahrain Family Leisure Co. dived 4.76% to BD0.100. Two days ago, GFH has reported a half year net profit of $0.7m for the period ending 30 June, 2011, as compared to a loss of $47.6m for the same period in 2010.
The Bank did however report a loss in the second quarter of this year amounting to $11.23m, as compared to a net loss of $40.2m for the same period in 2010.
