PHOTO
Abu Dhabi stocks outperformed other Gulf markets on Tuesday, led by financial-services and telecoms shares, while Egypt was hit by sell-off among blue chips.
The Abu Dhabi index advanced 0.8%, led by a 1.7% gain by Emirates Telecommunications and a 0.7% rise in the United Arab Emirates' largest bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank .
International Holding jumped 4.8%. After the market closed, the aquaculture company said that it was calling off an acquisition of SHUAA Capital International.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index extended gains for a third day, to end 0.6% higher.
The kingdom's largest petrochemical maker, Saudi Basic Industries, rose 2.4%. Savola Group was up 3.2%.
Among other stocks, Al Kathiri Holding soared 9.9%, to become the top gainer on the index. The shares were moved to the main market on Nov. 3, and since then have risen over 86%.
The Dubai index closed up 0.7%. Emaar Properties gained 1.7%; Emirates NBD was up 0.4%.
Air Arabia added 1.5%, a day after the budget airliner announced an order for 120 Airbus A320neo-family jets in a deal worth about $14 billion.
The contractor Arabtec Holding gained 3.5% after seeing its biggest fall in six months the day before on third-quarter losses.
On Tuesday, its unit Arabtec Construction won a 366 million-dirham ($99.65 million) construction contract in Egypt.
After trading hours, Dubai Islamic Bank called s board meeting on Nov. 25 to discuss acquisition of Noor Bank. The sharia-compliant lender was down 0.4%.
The Qatari index rose 0.4% with Qatar Islamic Bank and Masraf Al Rayan rising 1.3% and 0.8% respectively.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index traded in the red for the second day. The index was down 0.5% with Commercial International bank losing 0.3% and El Sewedy Electric dropping 1.8%.
Exchange data on Tuesday showed Egyptian and Arab investors were net sellers of Egyptian stocks.
($1 = 3.6727 UAE dirham)
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918067497129;))