Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar indexes stutter

Dubai: Egypt's main index declined in line with international markets yesterday, led by Orascom Construction. The slide came after the Dow Jones lost 2.5 per cent on Friday on dismal consumer sentiment data and anaemic company revenue.

"It looks like the market with be on the downside because of the big drop we saw in New York on Friday," said Hashem Ghoneim of Pyramids Capital.

OCI lost 1.8 per cent, EFG-Hermes 2.3 per cent and Commercial International Bank 1.4 per cent.

"There will not be much activity until August, when companies start announcing their second quarter results," Ghoneim said.

The EGX30 lost 1.4 per cent to 5,964.

Kuwait's index fell as well, tracking global markets, in the absence of any major positive catalysts and with traders expecting a downward trend to continue.

The bourse falls 0.4 per cent to 6,490.

"In the last couple of days there were comments from ministers and from large investors... that spread a negative sentiment," said a Kuwait-based trader.

"It is basically about how in the long-run some companies, mainly in investment and real estate, should be removed from the market," the trader added. "Which in itself is not a bad thing in the long run."

Zain fell 1.7 per cent, albeit on low volumes.

"In the short-to-medium term we still see negative sentiment dominating," the trader said.

Qatar's index fell 0.5 per cent, while Oman's bourse gained 0.2 per cent to 6,230. Ahli Bank slipped 0.4 per cent despite half-year net profit almost doubling compared to the corresponding period of 2009, although the stock is up 5 per cent in July.

"Improvement in total operating income and cost reduction led to bottom line growth," says Gunjan Gupta, head of research at Oman Arab Bank. "Overall volumes and turnover for the market are lower, impacted by global markets sluggish performance and downward movement of oil prices."

Saudi stocks on Saturday dropped for a fourth session, led by banks and telecom stocks. The Saudi stock exchange declined 0.7 per cent to 6,134.

"To avoid more declines, investors need motivated news to push the market above the resistance line at 6,195," said Thamer Al Saeed, analyst at Emirates NBD in Saudi Arabia.