Gulf stock markets declined yesterday as sharp falls in oil prices late last week outweighed a few positive corporate earnings in Saudi Arabia.
In Egypt, investors bought shares that could benefit from any currency devaluation.
Riyadh’s stock index fell 1.2% as losses accelerated in the final hour of trade, with four-fifths of traded stocks declining.
Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co declined 2.5% after it reported a 79.6% slide in net profit to 103.2mn riyals ($27.5mn), blaming lower prices and tighter refinery margins.
Saudi Arabian Fertilizers Co (Safco) dropped 0.4% after it said quarterly profit halved to 299mn riyals, broadly in line with an average forecast by analysts for 290.5mn riyals.
But Saudi Kayan Petrochemical climbed 1.4% after it swung to a net profit in the second quarter of 91.02mn riyals, ending a run of five straight quarterly losses and beating analysts’ forecast for another loss.
NCB Capital said in a note that it was the highest net profit since Kayan began commercial production in 2011 and estimated the company achieved a record gross margin of 18.5%, beating NCB’s forecast of 4.6%.
“The better-than-expected results can be attributed to higher sales volumes, improved operating rates, higher spreads, and a reduction in other production expenses” the note said.
Packaged food producer Halwani Brothers Co slumped 4.7%.
The company reported a 35.5% increase in second-quarter net profit, partly because of non-recurring gains, but operating profit fell.
Company for Cooperative Insurance jumped 4.4% after it reported an 11.0% rise in second-quarter profit before tax.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, trading activity was subdued in a broad sell-off.
Dubai’s index fell 0.8% as heavyweight Emaar Properties fell 2.1% to Dh6.85 ($1.87), retreating from major technical resistance on its October peak of Dh7.01.
Hopes that the resistance would break caused the stock to outperform last week.
In Abu Dhabi, the index dropped 0.5%, weighed down by losses in mid- and large-cap shares, with Dana Gas declining 1.7%.
Qatar’s index slid 0.5% with losers outnumbering gainers 13 to five.
Masraf Al Rayan, which gained 1.6% last week, fell back 0.7%.
In Egypt, the main index rose 0.4% as local investors accumulated shares, mainly in export-oriented and real estate development stocks.
These sectors might benefit from another currency devaluation, which many economists believe is inevitable given sliding black market currency rates, although the timing is unclear.
Sixth of October Development and Investment climbed 1.1% and textiles exporter Arabia Cotton Ginning rose by 2.9%.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, the Kuwait index edged up 0.1% to 5,395 points and the Bahrain index edged up 0.04% to 1,161 points.