Qatar, Saudi Stocks Rise on Bets Losses Overdone, Oil Gains - Bloomberg.com

Qatari and Saudi Arabian stocks increased as oil approached $76 a barrel and investors speculated that declines spurred by the European debt crisis are overdone given growth prospects in the Gulf countries.

Masraf Al Rayan, a Qatar-based bank, gained the most in more than six months. Saudi Basic Industries Corp, the world’s largest petrochemical maker known as Sabic, advanced 2 percent. Qatar’s QE Index increased the most this month, rising 1.5 percent to 7,024.72. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index gained 1 percent to 6,325.31 as of 2:00 p.m. in Riyadh, the highest in three weeks. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index advanced 0.4 percent.

“We expect companies will have sequential quarterly financial growth and will not be affected by a falling euro or a defaulting Greece,” said Yazan Abdeen, fund manager at ING Investment Management (Dubai) Ltd. “The extreme sell-off has eased and Saudi Arabia and Qatar have a lot of value and selective story growth.”