Saudi shares fall 14.8% in Ramadan and 20.2% in Q3

One day before the start of the Eid vacation, Gulf markets registered a strong rise on the approval of the rescue package by the US Congress estimated at $700bn to save the financial institutions.

The Saudi market saw the biggest rebound, of 6.6%, after a series of declines which pushed the index down below 6.900 points for the first time in 15 years.

Dubai also saw a strong rise of 2.4% while Kuwait, Doha and Abu Dhabi rose by 2% each while Muscat only rose by 0.33%.

Saudi Arabia: Strong rebound in the last day of Ramadan

Tadawul concluded the last day of trading in Ramadan with a strong rebound after support from all sectors especially banks, petrochemicals and telecoms.

Twenty listed firms rose by the maximum limit of 10% while trading value improved and reached SR4.8bn.
The strong rebound witnessed by Tadawul is seen by analysts as chance by portfolio managers to buy shares at cheap prices.
Prices are expected to rise after Eid with the announcement of third quarter profits and the rise of US markets.

Al Rajhi, Arab National, Saudi French Bank, and Riyadh Bank rose by more than 9% each while Samba rose by 3%.

Meanwhile Petrorabigh rose by 9.6% and Sabic by 5.2% to SR105.2.
In the telecom sector, STC, Mobily and Zain rose by 9.3%, 9.1% and 6.5% respectively.

UAE regains Dhs16bn of losses

For the second consecutive day, UAE shares continued to perform well regaining some of their losses.

The UAE has regained Dhs16bn which added to last week gains of Dhs12bn, totals Dhs28bn from total losses of Dhs120bn since the beginning of Ramadan.

Trading value at DFM declined by more than 50% to Dhs695.2m, but the market has witnessed strong buying orders focused on leading shares which pushed the index up to the 4.000 benchmark.

Heavy weight shares including Emaar rose by 3% to Dhs7.50, Emirates NBD 4.7%, and DIB 5.6%.
Arabtec unexpectedly rose yesterday by less than 0.50% despite signing new deals worth Dhs2.4bn at Jebel Ali.
Meanwhile Amlak and Tamweel rose by 2.8% and 3.7% respectively.

Abu Dhabi: Merger rumours push shares up

Rumours of mergers among some leading banks and firms have pushed the ADX index up close to the 4.000 benchmark.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rose by the maximum limit of 10% after rumours that the bank will merge with NBAD or Union Bank, a thing which was denied later by the CEO of the bank.
Union National Bank rose strongly by 7.5% after rumours of a merger with unknown banks.

Sorouh rose by 7.85%, and Aldar by 3.1% to Dhs8.17 after also being subject to merger talks with Al Qudra Holding.

Kuwait market rises strongly with KD300m aid

Local investment funds in Kuwait started to return on news that Kuwait's Investment Authority will pump KD300m in the local market amid expectation that it will see strong rises after Eid vacation.

Trading value has also improved to KD137m, while National Industries shares rose by 4.6% to KD0.910 and the company extended the IPO period to increase its capital to the end of October.

Doha sees collective rise

All 36 listed shares at Doha market rose yesterday except Qtel and 'Al Fahs Al Fani' which fell by 0.14% and 1% respectively.

The biggest support came from Industries Qatar which rose by 3%.
Analysts believe that the market responded positively to the US Congress decision to support the market giving indications that foreign investment portfolios will stop liquidating their shares.

According to a report by Doha stock market, the ratio of foreign sales represented 22.5% of the total sales last week out of QR4bn, against purchases of 12%.

Muscat rises slightly

Muscat securities market rose by less than 0.50% amid low trading which reached OR5m compared to more than OR15m in previous sessions.

Heavyweight share Muscat Bank rose by 0.44%, Omantel 2% and Gukfar 1.4%, while Oman National Bank fell by 2.6%.

Bahrain: The only downward turn

Bahrain was the only loser yesterday after pressure came from all sectors, particularly NAS which fell by 9.8%, while GFH rose by 1.1% and Batelco by 0.74.
Itmaar and Al Salam saw sharp declines of 5.1% for Ithmaar and 0.50% for Al Salam.