DUBAI
The Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (CMA) issued a statement before the market opened saying that listed companies would be exempt from publishing fourth-quarter financial statements because they are transitioning to the International Financial Reporting Standards style of accounting.
This surprised many fund managers, but the Arabic version of the statement said the exemption applied to “preliminary” financial statements, which seemed to imply that companies would still have to release final statements at a later date.
The CMA did not respond to a request for comment.
Under CMA rules, interim financial statements must be released within 30 days of the end of each period and annual statements within three months of the end of the financial year.
The Saudi index spent most of the day only slightly lower but its losses snowballed towards the close and it finished 1 per cent down. Real Estate developer Dar Al Arkan, which had risen in recent days after strong quarterly earnings, plunged by nearly 10 per cent.
Petrochemicals company Chemanol fell by 4.8 per cent after jumping by its 10 per cent daily limit on Tuesday.
Saudi Industrial Export, which this week proposed a capital reduction to write off accumulated losses, slid 5.7 per cent.
Qatar’s index, still feeling the effects of sanctions imposed on Doha by other Arab states since June, sank 1.4 per cent to its lowest since March 2011.
Real estate company Ezdan Holding which had dropped 2.3 per cent on Tuesday after Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating by two notches into junk territory, plunged a further 6.5 per cent. The stock has lost 52 per cent this year.
Inflation data released late on Tuesday showed the downturn in Qatar’s real estate market deepened in October because of the sanctions. Housing and utility prices sank 5.4 per cent last month from a year earlier — the biggest drop for several years.
Egypt’s index dropped 0.8 per cent as Global Telecom lost 1.6 per cent to 7.40 Egyptian pounds. It had jumped last week after VEON Holdings, its parent, said it planned a mandatory tender offer for Global shares at 7.90 pounds.
