Gulf stocks mixed; Qatar edges lower as regional rift continues

Qatar’s main index closed slightly lower on Thursday, recovering in the closing minutes from the intra-session low of 8,860 points.

The QE index fell 0.1 percent to close at 8,923 points, with the heavyweight lender Qatar National Bank (QNB) down 0.2 percent at QAR 123.

The benchmark index has lost nearly 10 percent since early last month, when a political rift between Doha and its Gulf neighbors drove Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain to snap trade ties with Qatar.

The Qatari Investors Group rose 2.3 percent to QAR 43.8. The stock, which was at QAR 56 on June 4, had seen the biggest decline over past 30 days.

Among other decliners over the month are: QNB from QAR 145.3 on June 4 to today’s QAR 123; Qatar Islamic Bank from QAR 104 to QAR 88.2; and Ooredoo QAR 101.8 to QAR 92.

Meanwhile in the UAE, Dubai’s main index slipped 0.5 percent to close at 3,401 points. Emaar Properties was down 1.4 percent at AED 7.77 and Damac lost 1.8 percent to reach AED 3.3.

Abu Dhabi’s general index fell 0.4 percent to 4,396 points as banking and telecom stocks weighed.

Elsewhere, Kuwait’s price index rose 0.1 percent to close at 6,680 points.

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index was trading lower by 0.5 percent. 

Write to Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com