Most Gulf markets in black as oil edges higher | Reuters
Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Thursday, bouncing back from early losses with a rebound in oil prices, although gains were limited after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI) gained 0.4%, with Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services (4013.SE) rising 1.4%.
The Saudi stock market stabilized to a certain extent as oil prices rebound. The main index has recorded some price corrections and could be exposed to the weight of mixed company earnings, said Fadi Reyad, Chief Market Analyst at CAPEX.com.
"However, positive local fundamentals continue to lend support and could help the market return to the upside."
Government-led reforms and the growth of private investment in new sectors will help support non-oil economic growth in Saudi Arabia amid an expected sharp slowdown in overall growth this year, a senior IMF official said.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI) gained 0.4%, with budget airliner Air Arabia (AIRA.DU) advancing 3.2%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI) was up 0.3%.
Oil prices - a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - were steady after an European Central Bank (ECB) decision to slow interest rate hikes, but were unable to claw back much of this week's more than 8% decline as demand concerns in major consuming countries continued to weigh.
The Qatari index (.QSI) advanced 1.5%, as most of the stocks on the index were in positive territory, including Commercial bank (COMB.QA) which finished 5.3% higher.
According to Reyad, the Qatari bourse maintained a positive outlook while natural gas prices remained stagnant and some companies published strong earnings.
** Egypt was closed for a public holiday
Dubai's Drake & Scull registers lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers | Markets – Gulf News
A lawsuit has been registered by the Dubai engineering firm Drake & Scull International against the audit firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers for shortcomings related to its handling of the company's audit. The case has been registered in the Dubai Court of First Instance.
This follows findings after Drake & Scull appointed an accounting expert from the accredited offices of the Dubai Courts. This revealed 'facts that were hidden throughout the previous years' when PwC was handling the audit.
"It was revealed that PWC violated the approved accounting standards," said the company. "And showing it in the budgets throughout the previous year’s period and by exaggerating the company’s financial position.
"The expert's report showed that the company incurred total losses for previous years amounting to Dh5.50 billion."
Wizz Air’s Gulf Unit to Double Aircraft, Staff as Demand Climbs - Bloomberg
Wizz Air Holdings Plc’s Persian Gulf venture plans to double its fleet and boost hiring as demand for low-cost flights surges following a slow start during the pandemic.
The new airline is seeing “very strong demand” and expects traffic to almost double over the next 12 months from the 1.2 million passengers flown over the past year, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi Managing Director Johan Eidhagen said in an interview.
The fleet will expand to 15 aircraft by March 2024 from eight currently, as the airline adds new destinations to cities within about a six-hour radius from its Abu Dhabi base. The venture is also hiring, with plans to double staff to 800 in the capital of oil-rich United Arab Emirates, Eidhagen said.
Tech VCs Resort to Party Crashing in Middle East During Downturn - Bloomberg
Silicon Valley has taken investment from moneyed state-run funds in the Middle East for years. Now that the technology industry is mired in a downturn, those relationships are becoming more desirable, and more visible.
In elite tech circles, connections to sovereign wealth funds are suddenly in-demand. Investors including Chamath Palihapitiya and Tribe Capital’s Arjun Sethi have recently been spotted passing through the region. Ben Horowitz spoke at a major Saudi conference late last year. And one person who invests in VC funds said they’d seen multiple newer venture capitalists without an invite frantically trying to get into parties held in the region by United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabian investors.
The VCs’ desperation, this person said, was poorly perceived by the Mideast investors, who value long-term relationships and were shocked by the party crashers. The person asked not to be identified discussing private information.
Relationships between VCs and their backers are usually private, particularly with overseas funds that value discretion. Some of those ties were made unusually public this spring when the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s venture arm, Sanabil, took the rare step of listing names of the firms it has backed on its website. The more-than-$600 billion fund disclosed ties to tech’s most elite firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia China, Founders Fund and Tiger Global. Tech news site the Information first reported some of the names.
Dubai School Operator GEMS Education’s Talks With Abu Dhabi Group Stalls - Bloomberg
Dubai-based GEMS Education is considering options for the business after talks to sell a controlling stake to a consortium of Abu Dhabi state-backed entities stalled over valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.
Wealth fund ADQ and real estate developer Aldar Properties PJSC haven’t been able to agree on a price with the owners of GEMS, who were seeking to sell a stake at a $6 billion valuation, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
The firm may now look to invite other bidders or consider listing the business, the people said. Talks with the Abu Dhabi bidders, which began late last year, have not officially ended and could still be restarted at a later date, they said.
SABIC Q1 profit plunges 90% amid pressure on global demand | Reuters
Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) (2010.SE), one of the world's biggest petrochemical companies, said on Thursday its first-quarter net profit dropped 90% and warned it expected margins to remain under pressure in the second quarter.
The company reported net income of 660 million riyals ($175.98 million) for the three months ending March 31, down from 6.47 billion riyals in the same quarter a year earlier.
Despite the fall, SABIC beat analysts' median expectation of 540 million riyals in net income for the quarter, according to Refinitiv data.
"We are closely monitoring the changes and the recovery of the global market demand. New capacities in Q1 2023 are adding more pressure on global prices, while there is limited relief on variable cost," SABIC's CEO Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia's Jamjoom Pharma plans IPO on Saudi Exchange | Reuters
Saudi Arabia's Jamjoom Pharmaceuticals Factory Company intends to go ahead with a planned initial public offering on the Saudi Exchange, the company said on Thursday.
Jamjoom Pharma plans to list on the Saudi Exchange's main market by selling 21 million of its existing shares, equivalent to 30% of its issued shared capital, the company said in a statement.
JPMorgan Saudi Arabia and Saudi Fransi Capital are financial advisers for the IPO. They are joined as underwriters and bookrunners by AlRajhi Capital. Saudi Fransi Capital is also lead manager.
The Middle East was a bright spot for stock market listings last year and has been so far this year, with flotations from Abu Dhabi's ADNOC Gas (ADNOCGAS.AD), Oman oil driller Abraj Energy (ABRJ.OM) and the UAE's Al Ansari Financial Services.
Companies from the region raised $21.9 billion through IPOs in 2022, more than half the total for the wider Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Dealogic data shows.
Most Gulf bourses in red after Fed rate hike | Reuters
Most major stock markets in the Gulf were subdued in early trade on Thursday, tracking global shares lower on the U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike and signs of stress at another regional bank in the world's largest economy.
The Fed raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point and signalled it may pause further increases, giving officials time to assess the fallout from the recent bank failures, the political standoff over the U.S. debt ceiling, and monitor inflation.
At a press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said inflation remains the chief concern, and that it is therefore too soon to say with certainty that the rate-hike cycle is over.
Most Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have their currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar and follow the Fed's policy moves closely, exposing the region to a direct impact from monetary tightening in the world's largest economy.
Saudi benchmark index (.TASI) dropped 0.3%, with petrochemical maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp (2010.SE) falling as much as 1.9% after reporting a sharp decline in first-quarter net profit.
Among other losers, Saudi British Bank (1060.SE) retreated more than 3% as the lender traded ex-dividend.
Separately, government-led reforms and the growth of private investment in new sectors will help support non-oil economic growth in Saudi Arabia amid an expected sharp slowdown in overall growth this year, a senior IMF official said.
Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI) fell 0.1%, with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) losing 0.7%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI) eased 0.1%.
Oil prices - a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - rose but were unable to claw back the over 9% decline during the previous three days as demand concerns in major consumers overrode signals that the U.S. may pause its interest rate increases.
The Qatari benchmark (.QSI), however, bucked the trend to trade 1% higher, buoyed by a 4.4% jump in telecoms firm Ooredoo (ORDS.QA) after it reported a rise in first-quarter net profit.
