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Stocks across much of Gulf continue losing streak

Stocks across much of the Gulf continued their recent poor performance in trading on Wednesday as uncertainty in global markets kept investors on the sidelines.

Markets in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman all ended the day down, while only Abu Dhabi and Qatar finished in positive territory.
In Saudi, the Gulf largest market by capitalisation, stocks resumed their general downtrend after a brief respite on Tuesday when the market finished up for the first time in five trading days.

The market, the worst performing in the Gulf this year, was dragged down by Samba Financial Group and SABB Bank, which dropped 3.66% and 0.69% respectively.

The benchmark index closed 0.93% lower on 9,418.32 points. The market has slumped more than 15% so far this year.

Dubai fared little better. Its benchmark index closed down 0.13% on 5,460.44 points, with banks pacing the losses. Dubai Islamic Bank and Dubai Investments slipped 1.55% and 1.7% respectively.

The market closed lower despite a 0.88% gain by Emaar Properties, the largest publicly traded stock in the Middle East. Emaar shares have dropped 8.3% this month alone, losses that have weighed on the market.

Kuwait continued its decline on Wednesday with a fourth consecutive day of losses since recording its biggest one-day gain in more than two weeks on the news that the Gulf state's ruler had dissolved parliament and called fresh elections in May.

“Traders are booking profits after the rally, but there is also lower liquidity,” Ammar Hajeyah, assistant manager at Global Investment House told newswire Reuters.

“People don’t want to inject cash in the market because they are worried it could decline."

The main index shed 0.7% to 14,218.70 points on the back of losses posted by Kuwait Finance House, which finished down 1.91%, and telecom Zain, which slumped 4.12%.

Bahrain continued losses into a third straight day with Ahli United Bank weighing on the index. The bank closed down 1.57% as the main index slipped 0.03% to 2,784.95.

While in Oman, the Gulf's best performer this year, the main index extended declined into a fifth trading day, led by banking stocks.

The index fell 0.65% to 10,304.64 points, with Bank Muscat shedding 2.33% and Oman International Bank 3.71%. The Muscat benchmark was up almost 15% to Tuesday's close, after surging nearly 62% last year.

Meanwhile, Qatar snapped out of its recent losing streak, closing higher for the first time in five days as investors returned to the market ahead of first-quarter results. The main index inched up 1.85% to 9,687.33 points after freefalling 6.56% over the past week.

Abu Dhabi traded higher on the back of strong performances by telecom Etisalat and Aldar Properties. The two rose 1.02% and 2.93% respectively to boost the index 1.54% for a close of 4,676.57 points.

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