Qatar hits five year low, Region mixed

Dubai : Qatar’s stock index hit a five-year low yesterday because of a fresh sign that a diplomatic dispute in the region was starting to inflict long-term damage on some of its companies.

Shares of Qatar Insurance dropped 2.3 per cent after the company said it was closing its Abu Dhabi branch because it had not been able to obtain a licence. 

Its Abu Dhabi business, which had been operating since 2002, used to bring in annual gross premiums of 110 million Qatari riyals ($30 mln), the company said.

Qatar’s main stock index fell 1.2pc, dropping for an 11th straight session and bringing its losses since the diplomatic rift developed to 16.6pc.

“The market is in free-fall at the moment and until there is clarity about how the crisis will be resolved, I don’t see a floor,” said a regional fund manager.

The Saudi index edged down 0.1pc, hit by declines in most banking stocks as investors booked profits on recent gains. Bank Aljazira, which had risen 3.9pc on Sunday, lost 0.9pc.

Airport service operator Saudi Ground Services dropped 3.5pc after saying it plans to distribute a dividend of 0.65 riyal per share for the second quarter, the same as in the year-ago period.

Dubai’s index rose 0.8pc as theme park operator DXB Entertainments, the top performer of the day, jumped 6.2pc; trading volume was moderate, though. Emaar Properties added 2.2pc.

The Egyptian index edged down 0.2pc but Arabian Food Industries (Domty) rose 1.6pc after saying it expects its third-quarter revenue to reach 700m Egyptian pounds ($39.7m). Second-quarter revenues were 487m pounds.