Tadawul edges up in thin trade

The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) added 0.5 percent in thin trade on Monday with advancing shares outnumbering 95 to 52.
Most mid-sized petrochemical producers were bid up, as Brent futures LCOc1 traded around $56.50 a barrel. Saudi Industrial Investment Group climbed 2.9 percent. Apparel retailer and mall operator Fawaz Alhokair added 4.1 percent on announcing the appointment of a new chief executive, Atul Singh, effective April 1.
Shares in Saudi Airlines Catering rose 2.3 percent after it signed a SR44 million ($11.7 million) contract with Saudi Airlines to construct and manage the first-class lounge at Cairo International Airport. The contract is for five years and the positive impact of the deal will be reflected in the second quarter of 2017.
Meanwhile, a slump in shares of Dubai’s Arabtec dragged Dubai’s stock market lower after the builder reported a larger fourth-quarter net loss, while other markets were mixed.
Dubai’s index dropped 1.8 percent, its largest single-day decline since October 2015, after Arabtec plummeted by its 10 percent daily limit having reported a net loss of AED2.95 billion ($803 million) in the three months to Dec. 31.
Arabtec also said its board approved a proposed capital restructuring and a AED1.5 billion rights issue, pending investor consent at the next general shareholders’ meeting.
Mohammed Ali Yasin, managing director of brokerage at NBAD Securities, told Reuters he believed the loss reflected measures taken across government-related entities.
“This deceleration is the result of the due diligence between IPIC and Mubadala. They looked at the Abbar subsidiaries, which Arabtec is a part of, and they forced them to take the true provisions and impairments to start on a clean slate,” said Yasin.
In January Abu Dhabi’s government merged two of its top investment funds Mubadala Development Co. and International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) to create Mubadala Investment Co., to strengthen their financial clout in an era of low oil prices. 
Elsewhere commodities shipper Gulf Navigation fell 3.6 percent despite reporting a 20 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit, according to Reuters calculations. 
In Abu Dhabi the stock index edged down 0.1 percent, with Eshraq Properties dropping by its 10 percent daily limit. Dana Gas, which reported a drop in earnings last week, fell 7.8 percent.
Egypt’s main index fell 1.4 percent with 80 percent of the most-traded shares retreating. Investment bank EFG Hermes fell 2.6 percent.
Shares of food producers outperformed on news that they will benefit from sourcing sugar locally. Egypt’s Al-Nouran sugar production facility is due to start operations in May. The facility will be the largest beet sugar production line in Egypt at 14,000 tons a day capacity. 
Arabian Food Industries (Domty), maker of sweet drinks, surged 8.5 percent and Juhayna Food Industries, maker of yoghurts, rose 2.7 percent.
Sugar had become scarce in Egypt in recent months and the government took control of stocks to counter what it said was an epidemic of hoarding by merchants reacting to rising prices amid a shortage of foreign currency.

Source: Arab News