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Most Mideast Gauges Drop as 2018 Earnings Pressure: Inside EM

Bahraini Stocks Lead Middle Eastern Markets Lower: Inside EM

(Bloomberg) -- Most stock gauges in the Middle East retreated on Sunday, with Bahrain’s index dropping after Aluminium Bahrain posted its first loss in 12 quarters.

The Bahrain Bourse All Share Index fell 0.6 percent, the most since Jan. 28, dragged down by Aluminium Bahrain’s 9.5 percent loss. The company, which accounts for almost 10 percent of the index, was one of just nine stocks on the 39 member gauge to move in either direction.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Emerging markets stocks ended 1.4% lower last week, the first weekly drop this year. A gauge tracking currencies from developing countries retreated 0.4%
  • READ: Lebanon Looks Beyond Qatar’s $500 Million, Sees ‘Large Deposits’

MIDDLE EASTERN MARKETS:

  • Dubai Investments declines 6.4% to the lowest level since Dec. 10. The company’s 651.4 million-dirham profit for 2018 was 35% lower than the previous year, mainly due to fair valuation loss on investment properties and financial instruments
  • The DFM Real Estate & Construction Index drops 0.6%. It retreated 6.7% last week
    • The gauge is down 8.2% this year, versus an increase of 10% for peers in emerging markets
  • Saudi British Bank rises as much as 2.5% in Riyadh after announcing full-year profit that beat estimates
    • Saudi Arabia’s main equities index slips 0.5%, trimming an increase of 0.6% last week
  • Kuwait’s main equities gauge climbs less than 0.1%
    • NOTE: MSCI quarterly review report due Feb. 11 may see change in the weightings of Kuwaiti banks in its frontier-markets index
  • Indexes in Oman, Israel and Egypt rise at least 0.1%

To contact the reporter on this story: Filipe Pacheco in Dubai at fpacheco4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, Shaji Mathew

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.