Mideast stocks mixed in quiet trading

Mideast stocks were mixed with quite trading on Thursday, while Milaha lifted the Qatar market before index entry into FTSE indexes.

Qatar’s index rose 0.6 per cent as Milaha advanced 2.3 per cent. The stock will join FTSE’s All-World and AllCap indexes after the close on Thursday, and this is triggering inflows of passive funds.

Qatar Insurance, which sank 8.4 per cent on Wednesday because it will be removed from some FTSE indexes at the same time, lost a further 1.7 per cent and was the market’s most heavily traded stock.

In Dubai, the index edged down 0.2 per cent as cooling services provider Tabreed tumbled 5.8 per cent as it went ex-dividend.

Builder Arabtec gained 0.4 per cent after the board of the company, which is recovering from more than two years of financial troubles, proposed to resume paying a cash dividend for 2017.

Saudi Arabia’s index slipped 0.5 per cent in the first 40 minutes on continued profit-taking in a few blue chips such as Al Rajhi Bank, down 1.6 per cent.

But Yanbu Cement gained 1.0 per cent after proposing a dividend of 1.25 riyal per share for the second half of 2017, up from 0.75 riyal for the first half although down from 2.0 riyals for the second half of 2016.