Strong rebound for Tadawul, head of Gulf Bank resigns

The flow of liquidity in Saudi and Dubai markets saved the two markets, while the rest of regional markets continue to witness weak trading volume.

Doha registered the strongest fall, losing 5.2%, followed by Kuwait 2%, ADX 1.3% and Bahrain 1.1%.

And despite the strong results announced by many firms, stock markets continued to ignore them, and even ignored the upswing in international markets.

Dubai rises slightly after fluctuation

Dubai Financial Market closed below 3,000 points at 2,932 after Emaar stopped its share buying operation. Heavy criticism was leveled at the group for not buying more than 200,000 units.

DFM index managed to rise above 2.5% during the session, but later fell after Emaar fell to Dhs5.05 before closing at Dhs5.28, up 3.5%.

Some shares failed to keep the momentum like Arabtec, Aramex and DIB, while some others rose up including Air Arabia 3.4%, Dubai Investments 1.5% and Du by 2.1%.

Dubai Islamic bank announced a 35% rise in profits, but closed down by 0.48%, and Aramex also fell by 1.4% despite posting 31% rise in profits.

Abu Dhabi: International Commercial Bank profits fall

The sharp decline by Sorouh by 4.75% and Abaar by 7.7% pushed ADX index to close down at 3,278 points, while other leading shares saw mixed results including Aldar which rose slightly by 0.81% and Dana Gas fell by 0.94%.

Meanwhile Takaful jumped by maximum limit of 10%, while Emirates Driving lost 10%.

International Commercial Bank, meanwhile, announced that its profits have declined by 2% to Dhs170.8m from Dhs174.2m.

Tadawul sees strong rebound

Saudi market witnessed a strong rebound with index closing at 5,621 after all sectors rose up including the 121 traded shares except three; Samba, Lujian and Arab Cement.

Trading value also improved and rose to SR7.8bn after support from Inmaa and Sabic which dominated 30% of the total trading and rose by 7% and 7.1% respectively.

Samba fell by 3% despite the rise of the banking sector.

The Petrochemical sector also rose including Yansab 9% while Al Lujain closed down.

Arab Cement fell by 2.8% after the company announced a 9% decline in its nine month profits.

Meanwhile all telecom sector listed firms rose collectively including Zain 6.9%, Mobily 6.6% and STC 3.3%.

According to analysts, the sharp losses of the market encouraged portfolio managers to seize the chance and start buying shares at low prices.

Kuwait: Head of Gulf Bank resigns

Kuwait stock exchange managed to lower its losses in the last minutes and reached 9,685 after support from some banks.

Meanwhile the Chairman of Gulf Bank's Board, Bassam Al Ghanim, resigned and his brother Qutiabah was appointed in his place after the bank incurred heavy losses in its financial derivatives trade.

KSE authority yesterday stopped trading on Kuwait Pearl Real Estate Company after reports that the company was involved with Gulf Bank in commission trading contracts.

Global which saw a 66% rise in profits, fell sharply by 5.8% to KD0.480.

Doha sees huge trading on Al Rayyan

Doha stock market was the biggest loser yesterday after its index fell to 6,435 points with all 36 traded shares declining except Qtel and Al Ahli.

Qtel rose by 1.1% after the company announced that an Indonesian court has ruled in its favour to acquire 65% of Indosat, while Industries Qatar fell by 6% to QR101.

Doha market has witnessed huge trading on Al Rayyan by more than 13.7 million shares representing 54.8% out of the total 25 million shares, but still fell by 9% to QR12.

Muscat: Banks' shares lower the losses

The rise of banking shares managed to lower market losses which closed at 5,977 points.

The support came from Sohar Bank which rose by 5.7%, Dhfar bank 0.27% and Arab National Bank 0.84% while Muscat bank closed unchanged and Omantel rose by 0.50%.

'Oman and Emirates' shares continue to register losses of the maximum limit of 10% after the company announced that it has posted heavy losses in its overseas investments.

Gulfar also fell by 5.3% despite trading OR1.2m.

Bahrain: GFH down by maximum limit

The decline of investment and services stocks aggravated market losses which closed down at 2,119 points.

Gulf Finance House fell by maximum limit for third consecutive day and Batelco also fell by 7.1%.

The rise of Ithmaar by 2.3%, Arab National bank by 2.2% and Sleef by 9.6% helped lower the losses of the market.