Saudi stock market consolidates and Abu Dhabi outperforms Gulf markets

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia closed on Sunday after recent gains, while other markets in the region were mixed.

The Saudi stock market fell 0.4% after closing the previous session at the highest level in two weeks.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) fell 1.9% after posting net income growth of 5.4% in the third quarter, slightly above analysts' expectations.

"The world's fourth largest petrochemical company is developing investment opportunities in Africa, China and the United States," said SABIC CEO Yousef Al-Bunyan.

Bank stocks also put pressure on the Saudi stock market as Al Rajhi Bank lost 2.1% of its profits. Last week, the bank announced double-digit earnings growth in the third quarter.

Riyad Bank shares fell 2.6% and the National Bank 1.2%.

Jabal Omar Real Estate Co. has gained 2% and the shares of the National Shipping Company (Sea) have increased by 5.2%. Jabal Omar has turned to profitability in the third quarter, while Al-Bahari announced last week a double-digit profit jump.

Foreigners realized a net business turnover of 2.34 billion riyals ($ 623.9 million) during the week ending October 25th, but the market benefited from the support of the net purchases of 39 shares by Saudi companies worth 8.06 billion riyals, according to stock market data.

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, the largest of its kind in the world, has announced its intention to increase investment in Saudi Arabia more than twice after the inclusion of its benchmark.

The benchmark Abu Dhabi reached Sunday the best performance of the Gulf, up 0.3%, thanks to bank shares.

Abu Dhabi First Bank grew by 0.6%, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank by 0.8% and Aldar Properties by 1.2%.

The Dubai index fell 0.4% on real estate and banking stocks.

Emaar Properties, the largest real estate developer in Dubai, lost 2% and Damac Properties 1.5%. Dubai Islamic Bank lost 0.4%.

The Qatar index closed down 0.1%, with Commercialbank down 3.7% on profit taking and Qatar's stock price down 2.7%

Qatar's industries gained 1 percent.

The Qatar Stock Exchange has been the best performer in the Gulf this year, registering a 19% increase since the beginning of the year, in part because large companies have decided to raise the foreign ownership limit to 49%.

Last week, Mohsen Mujtaba, director of market development at the Qatar Stock Exchange, said the market had attracted additional inflows of $ 1.5 billion since the increase in foreign ownership.

The closing levels of the Arab stock market indices are as follows: