RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s stock market continued its uptrend of the past few days in early trading on Thursday while other Gulf bourses moved little, with Kuwait’s bull run stalling in heavy trade. The Saudi index climbed 0.5 per cent in the first hour as petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries rose 0.8 per cent. Nama Chemicals jumped 9.6 per cent after announcing the main elements of a recovery plan after accumulated losses exceeded 75 per cent of its capital. The plan includes eventually increasing capital to finance production of specialty chemical products and boost capacity, and the sale of assets of an investment affiliate, with proceeds to be used to finance operations, repay debt or distribute dividends.
Kuwait, which has been rising sharply for most of this month as regional investors seek to catch the market’s momentum, edged down 0.1 per cent, although the blue chip National Bank of Kuwait rose 1.4 per cent after reporting strong fourth-quarter earnings this week. Dubai’s index edged up 0.1 per cent as real estate firm Deyaar, which dropped 5.0 per cent on Wednesday after its fourth-quarter profit more than halved, rebounded 0.8 per cent. Qatar’s index edged down 0.2 per cent. Qatar International Islamic Bank rose 2.7 per cent despite reporting a 7 per cent fall in fourth-quarter net profit to 118.4 million Qatari riyals, slightly below QNB Financial Services’ forecast of 126.2m riyals. Qatar Cement climbed 3.3 per cent after annual net profit expanded to 475.1m riyals from 463.6m riyals. Its board proposed an annual cash dividend of 40 per cent, and a 10 per cent bonus share issue.
