Gulf stock markets moved narrowly in thin early trade Monday with very few fresh incentives to buy or sell stocks, though Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) dropped after disappointing third-quarter earnings.
Dubai’s index edged down 0.5 percent to 3,689 points; it has repeatedly failed to make a decisive break of technical resistance above 3,700 points in recent weeks.
The biggest Dubai bank, Emirates NBD, sank 2.3 percent in unusually heavy volumes.
Abu Dhabi’s index was flat; telecommunications blue chip Etisalat, which has risen 22 percent since late August, added a further 0.3 percent but the bulk of the 10 most heavily traded shares were unchanged.
Qatar inched down 0.02 percent as CBQ, the Gulf Arab state’s second-largest lender by assets, lost 1.8 percent. The bank had reported a quarterly net profit of 275.9 million riyals versus 486.5 million riyals a year earlier; analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 495.4 million riyals.
Source: Reuters
