Most of Gulf moves little

Most major Gulf stock markets moved little yesterday with Saudi Arabia pressured by banking stocks, while Egypt was marginally lower after plunging to a 12-month low on Monday as margin calls hit local investors. The Egyptian blue-chip index, which has fallen 15pc since the end of August, was down a further 0.1 per cent. Global Telecom slid 4.7pc and Edita Food Industries lost 7.1pc.

But investment bank EFG Hermes rose 1.7pc after saying it hopes to close a deal to buy a Nigerian broker next month and also aims to win initial public offer mandates in Saudi Arabia as it seeks new growth markets. Telecom Egypt Co was up 2.2pc at 10.90 Egyptian pounds after brokerage CI Capital raised its target price to 14.8 Egyptian pounds. International Agricultural Products, which is not part of the blue-chip index, jumped 8.5pc after one of its units decided to make a mandatory offer to buy a stake in Ferchem Egypt Fertilizers for 6.31 Egyptian pounds per share. Ferchem was up 4.9pc to 5.61 pounds.

The Saudi Arabian index was 0.4pc lower as Al Rajhi Bank shed 0.5pc and Samba Financial Group dropped 1.4pc. Telecommunications firm Mobily rebounded 1.9pc after saying the industry regulator had lifted a ban on new sales of its mobile services. The ban was briefly imposed on the grounds that the company had not hired enough Saudi citizens in its executive ranks. On Monday, it fell 2.3pc in response to the ban. Al Tayyar Travel dropped 0.7pc after selling its 30pc stake in Thakher Investment for $101m. Advanced Petrochemical lost 2.5pc, falling for a third straight day after reporting a slight decline in quarterly net income. The Dubai index closed 0.1pc higher after falling for five straight sessions, propped by a 0.8pc gain in Emaar Properties. Takaful Emarat Insurance fell 1.1pc after Al Ramz Corp divested its investment of 17.8pc in the company, saying it had achieved its targeted return.