Abu Dhabi’s main equities index rose the most in the Middle East, boosted by gains in the United Arab Emirate’s biggest lender as investors in the region extend a rotation from cyclicals to value.
The ADX General Index gained as much as 1.4%, with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC climbing as much as 3.4% to the highest price since early March. The bank has a weight of near 40% in the index. Benchmarks in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Oman also rose, while those in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar fell.
FAB’s outperformance could be linked to “a cyclical/value recovery post the vaccine news, with much more news on a vaccine to come,” according to Divye Arora, a portfolio manager at Daman Investments in Dubai. “It is the safest name amongst UAE banks with better asset quality, lowest cost of risk and relatively higher public and public sector related entities exposure.”
The stock is “looking attractive” versus regional players when looking at a price-to-book basis, according to Harshjit Oza, the head of research at Shuaa Securities. “Also, one third of their lending is to government and government-related entities, so overall cost of risk and higher provisioning concern going forward are limited.”
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