Banking shares dragged Saudi Arabian stocks lower in early trade on Sunday while markets in the rest of the region moved little as investors readied for third-quarter corporate earnings announcements.
The Saudi stock index fell 0.5 per cent in the first 75 minutes as the banking index dropped 0.9 per cent.
The central bank has told commercial banks to postpone for a month receiving payments on consumer loans to customers whose incomes have been hit by cuts to public sector allowances, the Okaz newspaper reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.
Central bank officials were not available to comment.
Telecommunications firm Zain Saudi fell 2.7 per cent, continuing a pull-back after surging early last week on hopes it would benefit from deregulation of the sector.
Retailer Jarir Marketing climbed 3.1 per cent after it reported a net profit of 220 million Saudi riyals for the three months to September 30, up from 218.5m riyals a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted 200.6m riyals.
Dairy company Almarai gained 1.4 per cent after reporting a 10 per cent increase in third-quarter net profit to 654.6m riyals. Analysts had forecast 627.8m.
Dubai’s index was flat. The most heavily traded stock, DXBE Entertainments, climbed 1.3 per cent before it opens theme park facilities at the end of this month.
Abu Dhabi’s index dropped 0.5 per cent as Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank sank 1.4 per cent, while Qatar was flat amid a 3.1 per cent slide in Qatar Islamic Insurance.
In Egypt, the index rose 0.5 per cent after a senior International Monetary Fund official said the IMF’s initial loan payment to Egypt would be about US$2.5 billion and that he hoped to secure board approval for a $12bn loan programme within the next month.
El Saeed Contracting and Real Estate jumped 4.7 per cent to 0.90 Egyptian pounds after it said it was buying 17m treasury shares at 0.96 pounds per share.
Investment firm Qalaa Holdings dropped 4.8 per cent after reporting a sharply wider quarterly net loss.
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