(Bloomberg) — Riyadh’s benchmark stock index ended the day higher after Saudi Telecom Co. shares recouped some of their losses in afternoon trading.
The telecom operator was the biggest decliner on the gauge by points, after the kingdom’s wealth fund sold part of its stake at a discount. Its shares closed down 2.7%, paring earlier losses of as much as 6.2%.
The timing of the secondary share offering in Saudi Telecom Co. was “quite suboptimal, towards year-end with liquidity drying up in the market, when books are being closed, and in tandem with the IPO of Tadawul,” said Ziad Itani, an executive director at Arqaam Capital equity research. “We do not see the STC hiccup as an indication for weak appetite on the upcoming IPO flurry, but rather a technical one-off.”
- Tadawul All Share Index rises 0.3%
- STC falls 2.7%
- Stock closes at lowest since January
- Petrochemical names led gains
- Sipchem +3.3; Sabic +1.1%; Maaden +2.6%
- READ: Saudi Arabia Banks’ Growth Opportunities Abound Despite Risks
- STC falls 2.7%
Middle Eastern markets snapshot at 4:50 p.m. in Dubai:
- Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index gains 1%
- Dubai Financial Market General Index rises 0.2%
- Kuwait’s Premier Market Index falls 0.2%
- Qatar’s QE Index flat
- Egypt’s EGX 30 Index rises 1.1%
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- Dubai plans to list Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corp., a venture between a unit of Dubai Holding and a state-owned utility, on its stock market as part of plans to deepen its capital market
- Negotiators in Vienna made progress in rescuing nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, after revised Iranian proposals put forward last week appeared to derail the diplomacy
- Kuwait Projects, the holding company with assets of about $33 billion, appointed Sheikha Dana Nasser Sabah Al Ahmad as its CEO, in another senior appointment for a woman in the Gulf
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