Egyptian shares gain, Gulf stocks mixed

• SABIC slips as it seeks Clariant chairman's ouster

• Halwani Brothers jumps to a record high

DUBAI: Egyptian shares bounced back on Monday after the central bank kept rates unchanged, citing rising inflation and slowing economic growth due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Egypt's blue-chip index rose 0.7%, with most of its constituents ending higher. Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals jumped 6.6% and EFG Hermes increased 1.4%.

Saudi Arabia's index fell 0.3% as Al Rajhi Bank dropped 0.7% and Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) closed down 0.8%, having risen as much as 0.6% during the day.

SABIC, which owns 31.5% of Clariant, on Monday re-ignited a battle over the Swiss chemicals maker's future by seeking a 12-year board member term limit that would force Chairman Hariolf Kottmann's ouster.

Among the gainers, Halwani Brothers Company surged 9.9% to a record high of 88.9 riyals after the food producer and distributor proposed raising capital through a bonus share issue and distributing a 1.5 riyal-per-share cash dividend for 2020.

The Dubai index closed almost flat. Damac Propeties dropped 2.9%, while Emirates NBD Bank gained 0.5%.

DXB Entertainments was the biggest loser in percentage term, falling 4% to 0.095 dirham in its fifth consecutive day of losses.

DXB has lost over a fifth of its value since Meraas, which owns more than half of the loss-making theme park group, intended to make a conditional offer to acquire the remaining shares and take it private.

In Abu Dhabi, the index was up 0.2% with First Abu Dhabi Bank gaining 0.3% and Emirates Telecommunications Group adding 0.1%.

The Qatari index closed nearly 0.1% down. Commercial Bank gained 0.9%, while Qatar International Islamic Bank shed 0.8%.

Telecoms company Ooredoo, which rose in last three sessions, ended 0.3% down.

After the market closed, Ooredoo said the company and CK Hutchison Holdings are exploring a deal to merge their Indonesian units.