Dubai, UAE—Thanks to a spurt in oil prices, equities on both the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) and the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) climbed up this week, posting large gains.
The ADX and DFM had weekly advances of 1 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.
Oil prices, a significant motivator for the GCC financial markets, are reaching the second weekly increase, as it traded above US$95 a barrel, up from around US$88 earlier in the week. Meanwhile, the Saudi index decreased towards the close of the week’s trading.
Saudi Index: The end is tough
This past Sunday (October 2, 2022) saw a 0.7 percent increase to 11,487 points for the Saudi Stock Exchange index, led by Al-Rajhi Bank’s 1.5 percent increase.
RETAL for Urban Development’s share price grew by 3 percent, while Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services Group’s share price rose by 3.5 percent, helping “TASI” to a 1.1 percent gain on Monday (October 3, 2022).
The index rose for the fifth consecutive session on Tuesday (October 4, 2022) by 1.05 percent, hitting 11,607.96 points, to again exceed 11,600 points, thanks to the increase in value of shares of the National Bank and the petrochemical giant SABIC.
On the other hand, RETAL Urban Development Company’s 1.2 percent decline contributed to a 0.1 percent drop in the Saudi main index on Wednesday (October 5, 2022). This brought the index down to 11,770 points.
On Thursday (October 6, 2022), the Saudi stock market index “TASI” dropped for the second day in a row, finishing at 11,757.8 points (a loss of about 0.1 percent), with US$ 1.3 bn changing hands and 88 companies’ shares increasing in value compared to 114 companies’ shares decreasing in value.
Abu Dhabi: First weekly increase in 3 weeks
On Monday, October 3, 2022, the share price of First Abu Dhabi Bank rose by 0.2 percent, contributing to a 0.1 percent increase in the Abu Dhabi Market Index. On Tuesday (October 4, 2022), the index finished at 9,878 points, a rise of 1.5 percent, with transaction values totaling 1.3 billion dirhams (US$353 million).
However, on Wednesday (October 5, 2022), the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange index closed down 0.1 percent, at 9,866 points, with total transactions exceeding 1.3 billion dirhams or US$354 million.
The Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange finished at 9,855.4 points, down 0.1 percent on Thursday (October 6, 2022).
By the close of trade on Friday (October 7, 2022), the Abu Dhabi index had risen by 0.1 percent, marking the first weekly increase in three weeks.
Dubai index: finishes the week higher
Shares of Mashreq Bank plummeted by 10 percent on Monday (October 3, 2022) and contributed to a 0.6 percent decline in the Dubai index.
At the same time, the Dubai index dropped by 0.6 percent on Tuesday (October 4, 2022), with the market share falling by 4 percent and Dubai Islamic falling by 1.3 percent, while the Bahrain Stock Exchange stabilized at previous levels.
The fall in shares of Emirates NBD Bank (-3.4 percent) and low-cost Air Arabia (-1.5 percent) contributed to a 0.8 percent decline in Dubai’s index on Wednesday (October 5, 2022).
Thursday (October 6, 2022), trade on the Dubai Financial Market ended with a loss of 0.6 percent, with the index closing at 3,351 points. This followed US$ 82.9 million in trading, an increase in share price for 11 businesses, and a decrease in cost for 16 others.
The main index of Dubai stocks rose 0.7 percent on Friday (October 7, 2022), with gains led by Emirates NBD Bank’s 1.5 percent increase.