Gulf market report - 10 April 2007

Any pessimism occurring from yesterday's dip in performance has temporarily halted as the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) closed on a high having risen 0.44% to 3,830.30 today.

Shares totalling more than AED 1.25bn were traded, nearly double that of yesterday.

Unlike yesterday's session, where banks dominated the gainers list, insurance companies were today's main attraction on the DFM.

One of the biggest gainers on the DFM was Islamic Arab Insurance (IAIC) which rose 3% to close at AED 2.78.

Khader Al Khabib, branch manager for Al Dhafra Financial Broker believes the share price for insurance companies is likely to rocket.

However, Mr Khabib predicted that a correction was going to take place within the banking sector, which has had a good run of late.

"I think the correction will be in the banking sector because everybody is talking about the possible merger of the National Bank of Dubai and Emirates Bank International. This has had an effect on the share price. Today it reached AED 7.88. It cannot go on. Between AED 7 and AED 7.10 is a reasonable price for the share," he said

The ADSM also closed on a high. The general index went up 0.64% to 2,972.36. As per the DFM, an insurance company also took the top spot as the biggest gainer. The Ajman-based Union Insurance Company rose 6.50% to close at AED 2.13. However, the insurance sector on the ADSM was down by 1.44% as a whole.

Bahrain's stock market index closed lower for the third time in four trading days, led by Taib Bank. The index edges down 0.03% to 2,137.05 points.

Kuwait's stock market closed lower as profit-taking hits the 10 largest stocks. The index, which rallied to its highest close in more than five months on Monday, fell 0.98% to 10,335.70 points. Mobile Telecommunications, which is up more than 40% this year, fells 3.13%.

"There is a wave of profit-taking in the market," Jassem al-Zeraei, a trader at the National Bank of Kuwait, told Reuters.

Qatar's stock market index closed higher for a fourth trading day, as institutional investors piled into Qatar National Bank and other large stocks. The index rose 0.98% to 6,122.20 points. Qatar National Bank, which reported a record first-quarter profit on Monday, jumped 3.17%.

Oman's stock market index closed higher for a fourth trading day, led by banking stocks. The index rose 0.41% to 5,685.32 points. National Bank of Oman rose 1.77% and Oman International Bank 2.23%.

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