Mideast Stocks: Most Gulf bourses gain in early trade, Qatar eases
05/12/2021 08:18
Dec 5 (Reuters) - Most major stock markets in the Gulf rose
in early trade on Sunday, with the Abu Dhabi index leading the
gains, although the Qatari bourse bucked the trend.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index .TASI gained 0.8%, with Al
Rajhi Bank 1120.SE rising 0.5% and Saudi Basic Industries Corp
2010.SE putting on 1.1%.
Among other gainers, oil giant Saudi Aramco 2222.SE added
0.4%.
Aramco signed five agreements with French companies,
including an agreement to explore a hydrogen-powered vehicle
business with Gaussin, the oil giant said in a statement on
Saturday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nC6N2R502L
In Abu Dhabi, the index .ADI , which traded after a
two-session break, advanced 1.5%, buoyed by a 4.6% jump in
telecoms firm Etisalat ETISALAT.AD and a 1.6% increase in the
country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank FAB.AD .
Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund, said on Friday it had
agreed a four billion euro ($4.53 billion) contract with
France's public investment bank Bpifrance. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2SO03M
However, Multiply Group plunged about 30% to 1.75 dirhams
per share from its opening price of 2.35 dirhams, on its debut
trade.
On Sunday, Multiply Group listed directly on the Abu Dhabi
Securities Exchange.
Dubai's main share index .DFMGI was up 0.2%, helped by a
0.8% gain in Emirates NBD Bank ENBD.DU .
The United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday its first
known case of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, state news
agency WAM reported. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2SM2ML
Crude prices, a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial
markets, ended little changed on Friday after erasing earlier
big gains on growing worries that rising coronavirus cases and a
new variant could reduce global oil demand.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will
continue with its supply adjustments for the oil market, the
OPEC Secretary General said on Saturday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2SP07J
The Qatari index .QSI fell 0.3%, with the Gulf's largest
lender Qatar National Bank QNBK.QA dropping 1.2%.
($1 = 0.8839 euros)
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; editing by David
Evans)
((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))