Dubai Emaar may ease on Q4 miss; Egypt volatile

Dubai bellwether Emaar Properties may face selling pressure on Sunday after the developer's fourth-quarter profit missed estimates.

Emaar's quarterly profit fell 28 percent as costs soared amid a revival of stalled projects in the emirate.

Traders, however, still view the firm's numbers as encouraging to shareholders.

"The numbers were solid and the quality of the earnings was high, driven by income generated from its mall, retail and hospitality business," said Fadi Al Said, head of investments at ING Investment Management, based in Dubai.

"However, the property side of the business is still weak."

Shares in Emirates NBD will be in focus after the bank said it will start repaying part of the AED12.6bn (US$3.43bn) it received from the government in 2008.

In more earnings announcements, Abu Dhabi's Dana Gas , the Abu Dhabi-listed energy firm restructuring a US$920m Islamic bond, said on Sunday its full-year profit for 2012 rose 20 percent on the back of higher oil prices and lower costs.

Elsewhere, Qatar Telecom (Qtel) will raise its stake in Asiacell, of which it already owns 53.9 percent, as part of the Iraqi unit's US$1.35bn share sale, a bourse official said.

In Egypt, selling pressure from local investors may resume as unrest in the country escalates.

After eight days of protests that killed nearly 60 people, a video of one demonstrator stripped naked, dragged across the ground and beaten with truncheons by helmeted riot police has fired Egyptians to a new level of outrage.