Egypt continues bear run, Gulf depressed

Dubai

The bear run on Egypt's stock market continued yesterday as property developer Emaar Misr slid further in the wake of its listing, while weak oil prices weighed on the Gulf.

The Egyptian stock index tumbled 2.6per cent to a 15-month low of 7,551 points, bringing its losses from February's multi-year peak to 25pc.

The market has been hit by a perfect storm in the last few weeks: Egypt's energy and foreign exchange shortages, a decision by the central bank to resume depreciating the Egyptian pound , and an order by the bourse that Egyptian investors who buy global depository receipts (GDRs) by purchasing shares in Egyptian pounds may only receive their returns in that currency.

Security fears after deadly clashes with Islamist militants in the Sinai, the assassination of Egypt's top public prosecutor in Cairo, plus the Greek debt crisis - the euro zone is a top trading partner and source of tourists for Egypt - have also hurt. Margin calls have added to the selling in recent days.

Meanwhile, most Gulf markets fell in modest turnover because of weak oil prices and global market instability due to the Greek crisis and China's equities crash. In Bahrain, the index edged down 0.2pc to 1,336 points, while Saudi stock index slipped 0.3pc as Saudi Basic Industries, a petrochemical blue chip which is sensitive to oil prices, lost 0.8pc.

Samba Financial Group, the third-largest bank by assets, fell 0.7pc after its board recommended a 0.45 riyal per share dividend for the first half of 2015. That was lower than the 0.65 riyal which the bank said it would pay for the corresponding period of 2014.

But Al Rajhi Bank, the second-largest lender, jumped 1.9pc ahead of the release of its second-quarter earnings after the close.

The Dubai stock index slid 1.4pc. Construction firm Arabtec dropped 2.8pc after saying its group chief financial officer, human resources officer and general counsel had resigned, the latest in a series of management upheavals at the company since June last year.

Abu Dhabi's index edged down 0.7pc as Aldar Properties dropped 3.7pc. Qatar's market fell 1.3pc as Industries Qatar, another big petrochemical producer, lost 2.2pc.Oman index dropped 0.4pc to 6,403 points, while Kuwait edged up o.2pc to 6,156 points.