Egypt stock market to remain shut for third week

MARKET WRAP: UAE markets ended the day mixed as Egypt's stock exchange announced a further delay in re-opening - with video.

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Egypt's stock market will remain shut for a third week after political unrest in the country forced the exchange to close on January 27.

The Cairo Stock Exchange, which shut down after a 16 per cent drop over a three-day period, was originally due to reopen on Sunday February 13 but was then delayed until Wednesday.

The Central Bank of Egypt has said that banks in Egypt will close on Monday and Tuesday due to workers' strikes and the birth of Prophet Mohammad. The announcement came just two days after Hosni Mubarak resigned as president of Egypt, putting an end to his 30-year regime.

In Dubai, shares in Drake & Scull International were the most actively traded as its 2 billion Saudi riyal contract win from Saudi Aramco attracted investor buying.

More than 37 million shares traded hands yesterday and shares in the engineering and contracting company closed 4.6 per cent higher to Dh1.14.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index added 0.2 per cent to 1,607.61.

Positive results from the banking sector helped pare some losses on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, which retreated 0.6 per cent to 2,711.16.

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Union National Bank posted a 16.6 per cent rise in net income for 2010, compared with the year earlier, sending the shares up 0.3 per cent to Dh3.37.

But Sorouh Real Estate, Abu Dhabi's second-largest developer by market value, dropped the most in a month after reporting a fourth-quarter loss. It closed 3.65 per cent down to Dh1.32.

The company posted a fourth quarter loss of Dh199 million ($54 million) in the fourth quarter, after setting aside money to cover provisions and impairments, a trend that has hit other property developers in the region.

Elsewhere in the region: Saudi Arabia's Tadawul and Bahrain's measure ended the day flat at 6,617.74 points and 1,470.12 respectively; Oman's measure inched 0.6 per cent higher to 7001.05; Kuwait's index lost 0.8 yp 6,660.90 points and Qatar closed 0.9 per cent lower to 8,936.23 points.