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* Foreign funds boost Egypt's bourse for second straight day
* Saudi shares slip in final hour, banks weak
* Advanced Petrochemical, Sipchem gain 2 pct on positive news
* Property sector weighs on Abu Dhabi
* National Bank of Kuwait gains on first day of new rights issue
By Celine Aswad
DUBAI, May 18 (Reuters) - Foreign funds boosted the Egyptian stock market for a second straight day on Wednesday, exchange data showed, while Gulf bourses lost steam as investors took profits.
Cairo's main index added 1.2 percent following its 1.9 percent jump on Tuesday, taking the bourse's gains for 2016 to 9.0 percent. Global Telecom Holding, a stock preferred by international managers, gained 1.1 percent.
"For now foreign fund managers seem to be at ease with current FX prices, and find the market attractive at current levels compared to other emerging markets," said a Cairo-based fund manager.
In the Gulf, Riyadh's index gave up early gains in the final hour of trade.
"For now the markets will continue to trade in a very narrow range, at least until further details concerning the Vision 2030 economic plan are announced," said a Jeddah-based trader, referring to Saudi Arabia's economic reform scheme.
Advanced Petrochemical surged 2.0 percent after the company announced plans to increase its share capital by 20 percent to support future growth. The company also said it recommended distributing a cash dividend of 0.75 riyal per share for the first quarter.
"We expect the company will distribute 3.0 riyals per share for 2016. If annualised, the dividend yield will be 6 percent," said a note by NCB Capital. The range of dividend yields is between 4 and 9 percent for Saudi petrochemical producers, according to Reuters data.
Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) also rose 2.0 percent after it said it had restarted three plants that were shut for maintenance earlier this month.
Banking shares were the main laggards with heavyweights Samba Financial Group and National Commercial Bank each slipping 0.2 percent.
"In times of economic uncertainty investors should be more weary of banking shares, especially as non-performing loans will start to claw at their bottom lines," said an Abu Dhabi-based analyst.
Dubai's index also failed to hold onto early gains and fell 0.5 percent as investors booked profits in small and mid-sized companies. Arabtec dropped 0.7 percent.
But Islamic insurer Takaful Emarat rose 6.7 percent in unusually high volume. Dubai Parks and Resorts edged up 0.8 percent; Wednesday was the final day of trade in its rights issue, which will increase its share capital to 8 billion dirhams ($2.2 billion).
Abu Dhabi's index dipped 0.3 percent, dragged down mainly by mid-sized property-related shares such as Eshraq Properties and RAK Properties, which were down 1.3 and 3.3 percent respectively.
Doha's index edged down 0.01 percent as Industries Qatar fell 1.4 percent.
National Bank of Kuwait rose 1.6 percent as its 137.6 million dinar ($473.2 million) rights issue was launched; the subscription period will close on June 16. Kuwait's main index lost 0.1 percent.
WEDNESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
EGYPT
* The index gained 1.2 percent to 7,637 points.
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index edged down 0.04 percent to 6,737 points.
DUBAI
* The index dropped 0.5 percent to 3,285 points.
ABU DHABI
* The index fell 0.3 percent to 4,311 points.
QATAR
* The index edged down 0.01 percent to 10,010 points.
KUWAIT
* The index lost 0.1 percent to 5,363 points.
OMAN
* The index fell 0.1 percent to 5,952 points.
BAHRAIN
* The index dropped 0.2 percent to 1,106 points. (Editing by Andrew Torchia and Toby Chopra) ((celine.aswad@thomsonreuters.com;+971 562 247 653 Reuters Messaging: celine.aswad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
* Saudi shares slip in final hour, banks weak
* Advanced Petrochemical, Sipchem gain 2 pct on positive news
* Property sector weighs on Abu Dhabi
* National Bank of Kuwait gains on first day of new rights issue
By Celine Aswad
DUBAI, May 18 (Reuters) - Foreign funds boosted the Egyptian stock market for a second straight day on Wednesday, exchange data showed, while Gulf bourses lost steam as investors took profits.
Cairo's main index added 1.2 percent following its 1.9 percent jump on Tuesday, taking the bourse's gains for 2016 to 9.0 percent. Global Telecom Holding, a stock preferred by international managers, gained 1.1 percent.
"For now foreign fund managers seem to be at ease with current FX prices, and find the market attractive at current levels compared to other emerging markets," said a Cairo-based fund manager.
In the Gulf, Riyadh's index gave up early gains in the final hour of trade.
"For now the markets will continue to trade in a very narrow range, at least until further details concerning the Vision 2030 economic plan are announced," said a Jeddah-based trader, referring to Saudi Arabia's economic reform scheme.
Advanced Petrochemical surged 2.0 percent after the company announced plans to increase its share capital by 20 percent to support future growth. The company also said it recommended distributing a cash dividend of 0.75 riyal per share for the first quarter.
"We expect the company will distribute 3.0 riyals per share for 2016. If annualised, the dividend yield will be 6 percent," said a note by NCB Capital. The range of dividend yields is between 4 and 9 percent for Saudi petrochemical producers, according to Reuters data.
Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) also rose 2.0 percent after it said it had restarted three plants that were shut for maintenance earlier this month.
Banking shares were the main laggards with heavyweights Samba Financial Group and National Commercial Bank each slipping 0.2 percent.
"In times of economic uncertainty investors should be more weary of banking shares, especially as non-performing loans will start to claw at their bottom lines," said an Abu Dhabi-based analyst.
Dubai's index also failed to hold onto early gains and fell 0.5 percent as investors booked profits in small and mid-sized companies. Arabtec dropped 0.7 percent.
But Islamic insurer Takaful Emarat rose 6.7 percent in unusually high volume. Dubai Parks and Resorts edged up 0.8 percent; Wednesday was the final day of trade in its rights issue, which will increase its share capital to 8 billion dirhams ($2.2 billion).
Abu Dhabi's index dipped 0.3 percent, dragged down mainly by mid-sized property-related shares such as Eshraq Properties and RAK Properties, which were down 1.3 and 3.3 percent respectively.
Doha's index edged down 0.01 percent as Industries Qatar fell 1.4 percent.
National Bank of Kuwait rose 1.6 percent as its 137.6 million dinar ($473.2 million) rights issue was launched; the subscription period will close on June 16. Kuwait's main index lost 0.1 percent.
WEDNESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
EGYPT
* The index gained 1.2 percent to 7,637 points.
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index edged down 0.04 percent to 6,737 points.
DUBAI
* The index dropped 0.5 percent to 3,285 points.
ABU DHABI
* The index fell 0.3 percent to 4,311 points.
QATAR
* The index edged down 0.01 percent to 10,010 points.
KUWAIT
* The index lost 0.1 percent to 5,363 points.
OMAN
* The index fell 0.1 percent to 5,952 points.
BAHRAIN
* The index dropped 0.2 percent to 1,106 points. (Editing by Andrew Torchia and Toby Chopra) ((celine.aswad@thomsonreuters.com;+971 562 247 653 Reuters Messaging: celine.aswad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
