Gulf stocks mixed amid volatile trading
Stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf ended mixed on Sunday amid volatile trading as investors appeared to be taking a wait and see approach.
The Saudi stock market, the largest in the region, rose 1.3 percent in initial deals but at mid-session was down 2.5 percent with the Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) trading at 6,340.41 points.
The TASI was pulled down by the petrochemicals sector which dropped 4.4 percent.
The market leader, petrochemicals giant SABIC, shed 4.2 percent after announcing on Saturday a modest eight percent rise in nine-months profits while its third quarter net income dropped by two percent.
The Dubai Financial Market Index closed up a meagre 0.4 percent on 3,215.94 points after volatile trading that saw the index fluctuate sharply.
The market leader, property giant Emaar, closed up just 0.7 percent after initially rising by around six percent, despite announcing a 15 percent rise in profits for the first nine months.
The other United Arab Emirates bourse, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, finished the day up 2.4 percent at 3,446.76 points after a slight drop at the start.
The market was supported by the telecom and banking sectors which rose 3.7 percent and 3.6 percent respectively.
It was the second week of highly volatile trading on the markets in the face of the global financial crisis, with speculative deals dominating most of the markets, traders said.
"Gulf stock markets are not mature enough as they depend mainly on speculation,"the head of the Saudi Economic Studies House, Abdulaziz al-Daghestani, told the news agency.
Comments