Gulf Arab Markets Fail to Benefit from Egypt's Political Change

With the resignation of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, stock markets in the Gulf Arab region did not spark a rally Sunday but ended mixed amid a number of domestic corporate results.

In Dubai, the local stock exchange Dubai Financial Market opened bullish but at the end it only added 0.36 percent to reach 1,604.93 points. Market bellwether Emaar Properties closed 0.31 percent higher at 3.26 dirhams (0.88 U.S. dollar).

At Dubai's international market NASDAQ Dubai, the FTSE NASDAQ Dubai UAE 20 Index closed at 1,732.23 points, up 1.14 percent from the previous close.

"Equity returns in the emerging markets are likely to continue to outperform those of developed markets," British investment bank Barclays Capital said.

"Emerging market economies are set to continue to deliver higher growth and lower volatility than developed markets, which should translate into outperformance in emerging market equities," it added.

In Abu Dhabi, the ADX General Index gained 0.57 percent to close at 2,726.12 points. Real estate developer Ras al-Khaima (RAK) Properties from the emirate of Ras al-Khaima jumped 2.44 percent to close at 0.42 dirham (0.11 dollar).

Earlier in the day, RAK Properties revealed for the full year of 2010 a net profit of 187 million dirhams (50.99 million dollars) , a 10 percent increase compared to the year 2009.

In Qatar, the Doha-based QE Index added 0.74 percent to reach 9, 016.03 points. Kuwait's KSE benchmark index weakened 0.34 percent to close at 6,715.7 points as oil prices declined after the situation in Egypt de-escalated.

Both markets in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are very oil price sensitive as two thirds of the global known oil reserves are located in the two Gulf nations.

The Tadawul market in the Saudi capital of Riyadh eased 0.14 percent, closing at 6,626.89 points. Shares of The Company for Cooperative Insurance, known as Tawuniya, edged 1.68 percent higher to reach 105.75 Saudi riyals (28.55 dollars).

Earlier in the day, Tawuniya announced that for the full year 2010 it has posted a net income of 484.912 million Saudi riyals ( 130.93 million dollars), a 64 percent increase compared to 2009. Net premiums grew by 29 percent, the insurer said in a statement to the Tadawul bourse.