GCC Bourses end in the red on heavy selling 

(MENAFN - Bahrain Tribune) Save for a minor uptick in Oman, all the GCC bourses ended on a negative note yesterday.

The Saudi market hit the rock-bottom as investors played safe waiting for the upcoming earnings releases; the twin UAE bourses, Kuwait and Qatar also closed in the red on heavy divestments in the index heavyweights.

Bahrain

Continuing its sluggish temper for the third day in a row, Bahrain erased a mere 3 points from its previous close. Three of the five traded sectors languished, with banking taking the brunt - Bahrain Islamic Bank and BBK dipped around 1% each.

Gulf Finance House pared 2%. Meanwhile, the hotels sector flipped yesterday's losses as Banader Hotels (8%) climbed onto the leader-board; Arab Bank Corp. added 2%.

Oman
Bubbling gains across sectors kept the Omani market afloat for the fourth straight session - the market finished above the 11,800 mark. The banking sector led the winning brigade as United Finance profited 5% and Bank Sohar grew 1%; Oman Chem garnered over 8%.

Of the 55 traded stocks, 35 ascended and 9 wilted under selling pressure - Oman Cables snapped 2% and Oman Fisheries sank 1%.

Kuwait
Unrelenting selling pressure in most of the market biggies pushed Kuwait 80 points deeper into the red. Investors continued to penalise the services sector (down 204 points) as National Petro Service spilled 5% and The Transport & Warehousing Grp descended 6%; Shuaiba Paper crumbled 8%. On a brighter note, the insurance sector gathered decently with First Takaful zooming 7%. First Dubai for RE (8%) made good Monday's losses.

Saudi
The Tadawul All Share Index extended its poor form wiping out a massive 4% yesterday. All the sectors lost significantly with banking and petrochem declining 4% each. Index heavyweight Sabic expunged 3%, while both Bank AlJazira and SABB Takaful plunged 10%. The market breadth was largely negative with 118 decliners as against just 3 advancers - Alabdullatif Indl Invt (1%) gained prominently.

Qatar
Qatar's reprieve proved short-lived, as selling binges in the banking sector clouded the market - the DSM Index tumbled 0.35% on lower volumes. Doha Bank (-3%) led the laggards, even as Qatar Electricity & Water and Qtel waned 2% each. Elsewhere, Zad Holding (9%) recovered partially from yesterday's blow. Qatar General Insurance soared 8% and United Devt mounted 7%.

Dubai
After opening 3 points higher, Dubai lost steam, as bears surrounded key sectors. The Transport sector (-4%) was the worst hit as the country's low-cost carrier Air Arabia collapsed 4%, Aramex wilted 3%, and Gulf Navigation sank 2%. Beating back the gloom, the financial sector (12 points) celebrated on a 15% appreciation in Shuaa Capital; Nat Cem rose 3% and Emirates NBD inched-up 1%. The A/D ratio stood at 7:16.

Abu Dhabi
Shedding a quarter per cent from its kitty, Abu Dhabi also reversed direction southwards. The realty sector tripped over 1% - RAK Properties fell 3%; Gulf Cem eroded 4% and Al Khazna Ins lost 5%. Nonetheless, the health care sector maintained clipping upwards as Gulf Medical Projects swelled 8%. Emirates Driving strengthened 9%.