Egypt's main benchmark rose on Thursday amid rising investor confidence after the government cancelled plans to levy a tax on share dividends, and Qatar's index rebounded on a technical correction. Egypt Finance Minister Samir Radwan confirmed to Reuters that government had dropped a plan to levy a tax on share dividends, would not revive it this year and was looking for ways to reduce planned expenditure as a result.
"The market is up because the cancellation of the capital gain tax was seen as a mistake. The government's revision of the decision was in favour of Egypt's investment climate," said Mohamed Radwan, the head of equities in Pharos Securities. Qatar's benchmark climbed 1.1 percent, rising for a second day in three since Monday's two-month low.
On May 30, the chairman of Qatar's bourse said the country would not increase foreign ownership limits on stocks in 2011 - a key issue for an MSCI index upgrade. Industries Qatar, the second largest stock on the index by market value jumped 3.7 percent. "IQ - that's where foreign ownership is an issue - corrected substantially after the (the chairman's) announcement, so this is a bounce back from local buyers," said Sachin Mohindra, senior vice-president and portfolio manager at Invest AD in Abu Dhabi.
Qatar Telecom gained 2.9 percent. Abu Dhabi's index ended on a six-week high and Dubai's benchmark rose 0.3 percent, but volumes dropped to a four-week low. Emirates NBD, Dubai's largest bank by market value, gained 2.2 percent to hit a six-week high after saying it was looking for acquisition opportunities to boost its asset management business. Bellwether Emaar Properties gained 1 percent.
Abu Dhabi's index rose 0.3 percent, its highest close since April 27. Telecoms operator Etisalat climbed 0.9 percent. Oman's index rebounded on a technical correction, rising 0.3 percent. Bank Muscat gained 0.7 percent, Renaissance Services rose 0.4 percent. Galfar Engineering climbed 2.4 percent.
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