Qatar bourse gains on rising oil prices; Egypt falls | Reuters
Qatar's stock market ended higher on Sunday in response to Friday's rise in oil prices, while the Saudi index finished flat.
Oil prices - a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - rose nearly 2% on Friday to record a fourth consecutive weekly gain, buoyed by growing evidence of supply shortages in the coming months and rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine that could further hit supplies.
Russia hit Ukrainian food export facilities for a fourth day in a row on Friday and practised seizing ships in the Black Sea, in an escalation of tensions in the region since Moscow's withdrawal this week from a U.N.-brokered safe sea corridor agreement.
In Qatar, the key stock index (.QSI) gained 0.5%, rising for an eighth consecutive session, led by a 10% surge in Barwa Real Estate Co (BRES.QA).
Last week, the real estate firm agreed to sell two land plots in Lusail area for 6.36 billion riyals ($1.75 billion).
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), which hit an eight-month high last week, closed flat.
The kingdom on Friday said it will join a global hydrogen trade forum to be launched by the Clean Energy Ministerial, a global group formed to promote clean energy policy.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) eased 0.2% on Sunday, hit by a 1.1% fall in tobacco monopoly Easter Company.
A Reuters poll showed Egypt's economic growth is expected to be slower than previously forecast, while inflation may stay higher and the Egyptian pound may weaken a little more than previous projections.
UAE Funds ADQ Cancel Deal to Buy Control of Israel’s Phoenix Holdings - Bloomberg
A consortium of Abu Dhabi funds led by ADQ have called off a planned deal to buy a controlling stake in Israeli financial services firm Phoenix Holdings Limited.
The term sheet was terminated due to potential regulatory limitations on the deal that would have likely restricted several members in the consortium from making additional material investments in Israel, the controlling shareholders said in a letter to Phoenix, filed to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Phoenix shares fell as much as 2.44% to 37.61 shekels.
“The parties are finalizing an agreement pursuant to which the controlling shareholder will sell the Consortium shares in the Company while still retaining at least 30% of the fully diluted shareholding of the business and thus the control stake,” the statement said.
A new share sale would be at the same price as agreed upon in the original agreement, it added.
The controlling shareholders, private investment firms Centerbridge Partners and Gallatin Point Capital, hold about 33% of Phoenix, according to a December statement.
Centerbridge and Gallatin said in December that the Abu Dhabi funds were expected to buy a 25%-30% stake in Phoenix. Phoenix is listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange with a market value of about $2.6 billion and the deal was valued then at $855 million.
Israel and the UAE have sought ways to improve defense and economic relations since agreeing to forge diplomatic ties in 2020, in what was an historic breakthrough in the Middle East. The countries said the political accord would lead to billions of dollars of investment in Israel.
