Mideast Markets Price Low Probability of Wider Regional War - Bloomberg
Middle Eastern markets that opened on Sunday showed little sign of panic a day after Israel started its ground invasion of Gaza.
Israel’s TA-35 stock index was up 1.3% at the close in Tel Aviv, its first gain in three trading days. The index is down 11% since Israel declared war after a Hamas infiltration on Oct. 7. Moves on other major equity exchanges in the region were mostly subdued, with the Tadawul All Share Index in Riyadh and Qatar’s gauge rising less than 1% each. The EGX30 gauge in Cairo fell 0.8% and stocks in Kuwait dropped 2.5%.
With a ground invasion of Gaza widely expected before it began on Saturday, investors have been on alert for any signs that the conflict could expand, for example by deepening hostilities with other regional powers and drawing in other nations, including Iran and possibly the US. Saudi Arabia and the UAE condemned the intensified ground operations over the weekend as Israel warned they were the beginning of a long war.
Saudi, Qatar markets rise on upbeat corporate earnings; Egypt falls | Reuters
Saudi Arabia and Qatar's stock markets ended higher on Sunday boosted by solid earnings reports from banks and other companies, although worries that tensions in Israel and Gaza could spread into a wider conflict weighed on sentiment.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI) gained 0.7%, led by a 3.6% rise in auto rental firm Lumi (4262.SE), while Etihad Atheeb Telecommunications Co (7040.SE) finished 2.1% higher.
The telecom firm agreed a 48 million riyal ($12.79 million) settlement with Tawal - a tower infrastructure unit that Saudi Telecom Co (STC) (7010.SE) carved out in 2018 - over a tower sharing agreement.
Shares of STC were up 2.2%.
Elsewhere, Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services Group (4013.SE) jumped 6.4%, its biggest intraday gain since Nov. 2020, after reporting a sharp rise in third-quarter profit.
The firm also proposed a dividend of 1.17 riyal per share for the quarter ending Sept. 30.
Separately, foreign companies are scrambling to meet a Saudi deadline to locate their regional headquarters in the kingdom by January amid a lack of clarity over regulation, tax and potential incentives to encourage the move, Reuters reported on Friday, citing executives.
Firms risk losing hundreds of billions of dollars in government contracts in Saudi Arabia if their regional headquarters are based elsewhere.
The Qatari benchmark (.QSI) added 0.4%, with sharia-compliant lender Masraf Al Rayan (MARK.QA) jumping 8.8%, logging its best day in nearly eight years, on upbeat third-quarter earnings.
The lender reported third-quarter net profit of 486.4 million riyals ($133.61 million), up from 331.3 million riyals a year earlier.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) dropped 0.8%, as most of the constituents on the index were in negative territory including Abu Qir Fertilizers (ABUK.CA), which dropped 6.5%.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday warned against any expansion of the conflict in Gaza, saying the region risked becoming a "ticking time bomb".
The total death toll in Gaza rose to 8,005 people including 3,324 minors and 20,242 others injured, according to the official spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia’s PIF open to more joint ventures with foreign partners
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is open to entering into more joint ventures with foreign companies looking to invest in the kingdom, an executive from the wealth fund has said.
This week, the PIF and South Korea’s Hyundai agreed to jointly build a car manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia, with an estimated investment of more than $500 million.
“One of the main advantages of these kinds of joint venture partnerships is to localise the technical know-how, and this is one of the main things that we need to do,” said Abdulmajeed Alhagbani, head of Mena securities investments at the PIF.
“[South] Korea is … a major G20 country and, going forward, we are open to having this kind of exchange with all the countries,” he told The National on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
