Agility stocks surge to two month high

Kuwait's Agility surged to a two-month high after the logistics provider said US prosecutors have moved to dismiss charges against a subsidiary.

Agility climbed 5.8 percent to 0.455 dinars, its highest finish since June 10. The stock remains down 5.8 percent since it was first charged with defrauding the US military in November.

Agility, formerly Public Warehousing Co, was dropped from supplying food to the US Army in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan after being accused of overcharging the military.

Kuwait's index climbed 0.5 percent to 6,694 points.

National Bank of Kuwait and Commercial Bank of Kuwait each rose 3.3 percent.

Abu Dhabi's index neared a 2010 closing low as Aldar Properties extended declines after an analyst trimed its outlook for the developer.

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa) climbed 2.5 percent after its second-quarter profit rises.

On Monday, HC Research slashed its price target for Aldar to 3.8 dirhams from 9.7 dirhams.

Aldar dropped 1.4 percent to its lowest finish since March 17.

"People are selling Aldar because of its debt overhang and less confidence about government support," said Julian Bruce, EFG-Hermes director of institutional equity sales.

"The outlook for the stock is a lot more negative than it was before."

Fellow developers Sorouh Real Estate and RAK Properties fell 1.2 and 2.6 percent respectively.

The index slipped 0.6 percent to 2,511 points, within two points of setting a new 2010 low.

Dubai's benchmark rebounded from Sunday's four-week low, climbing 0.5 percent to 1,501 points.

Vyas Jayabhanu, head of investments, Al Dhafra Financial Broker, says Dubai's index could slump to 1,200 points in three to six months unless the government launches a stimulus package to support UAE markets.

He tipped Dana Gas and Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) to outperform, but has little confidence that many other names can bounce back.

"P-E ratios are at realistic levels - the market is not over-sold," Jayabhanu added.

Dana Gas fell 1.3 percent, but is up 23 percent since June 15, while Etisalat slipped 0.5 percent.

Air Arabia dropped 0.9 percent after its quarterly profit misses forecasts.

Foreign buying helped Qatar's index hit a seven-week closing high, ending higher for a fourth session in six as institutions targeted bluechip names.

Industries Qatar climbed 0.5 percent to its highest close since June 21, extending gains since its quarterly earnings beat estimates.

Qatar Islamic Bank added 0.7 percent and Qatar Gas Transport Co (Nakilat) gained 1.1 percent.

"The last few days have been a bit quieter, but today foreign institutions have been buying into quality names likes IQ, Qatar Islamic Bank and Nakilat," said Robert Pramberger, acting head of asset management at Doha-based investment company The First Investor.

"These stocks were negative at the start of the session, but turned positive after an hour's trading - it seems that as European markets opened, buying orders started to come into Qatar."

The index rose 0.09 percent to 7,117 points, a seven-week closing high.

Bluechips made minor losses as Oman's index edged lower for a second day and more sideways trading is expected.

Bank Muscat and Oman Telecommunications Co (Omantel) each fell 0.1 percent and National Bank of Oman dropped 0.3 percent.

Raysut Cement was the main support, climbing 0.9 percent.

The index slipped 0.07 percent to 6,347 points. It has traded in a 0.6 percent range over the past six sessions.

"It's another light day in the market," said Gunjan Gupta, head of research at Oman Arab Bank.

"The index has strong resistance at 6,367 points and may remain flattish until Omantel, Renaissance and Galfar announce their results."

Renaissance Services ended flat and Galfar Engineering fell 0.5 percent.

Knowledge Economic City Co (KEC) debuted on Saudi Arabia's index, dominating volumes as the bluechips showed little movement.

KEC rose to 10.95 riyals.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) climbed 0.3 percent, but Saudi Electricity Co and Samba Financial Group each dropped 0.4 percent.

"There are mixed signals from global markets and a lot of the action is now directed at the second-tier petrochemical names," said a Riyadh-based trader who asked not to be identified.

"Sipchem, which is a favourite pick of ours, and Yansab are among those to announce new capacity. They're seeing big moves and there is still buying appetite."

Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) climbed 0.2 percent towards Sunday's 12-week high. It is up 8.3 percent in a month and on Wednesday announced a tie-up with French chemical group Rhodia to set up the first ethyl acetate plant in the region.

Yanbu National Petrochemical Co's (Yansab) was unchanged, holding at Monday's four-week high.

The index slipped 0.04 percent to 6,322 points.

"I expect the market to hold steady today -- we're not seeing much movement in SABIC or the banks," added the trader.

"If anything happens globally, SABIC will follow and take the rest of the market with it." (Reuters)