Major stock markets in the Gulf retreated on Tuesday, with Saudi Arabia leading the declines following a string of disappointing corporate earnings.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index declined 1.1%, with Saudi Arabian Mining Co plunging 9.6% after the company posted a sharp fall in quarterly profit sequentially.
The miner reported a third-quarter net profit of 2.10 billion riyals ($558.96 million), marking a drop of about 48% from the previous quarter.
However, profit was up 65.3% year-on-year. Among other losers, Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical tumbled 9.8%, as it swung to a quarterly loss.
Shares of Saudi Aramco were down 0.6%, even as the oil behemoth posted a 39% jump in its third-quarter net income that beat analysts’ forecasts, boosted by higher crude oil prices and volumes sold.
The profit was slightly lower in comparison to its record second quarter.
Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said it was studying the damage to interconnecting pipes caused by a fire last week at its refinery and petrochemical joint venture with Aramco.
In March 2020, five people were killed in a fire at the 300,000 barrel-per-day complex, forcing it to close for more than two years.
It restarted in May, Reuters reported.
Dubai’s main share index fell 0.7%, hit by a 2.6% drop in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties, while Union Properties retreated 5.8% on posting losses for the first nine-month period.
Saudi shares rise on upbeat economic data, Dubai stocks fall
In a separate bourse filing, the firm reported accumulated losses of 2.94 billion dirhams ($800.46 million), 68.52% of the company’s capital as at end-September. In Abu Dhabi, the benchmark stock index eased 0.1%, hit by a 0.4% fall in First Abu Dhabi Bank, the country’s biggest lender.
The Qatari index dropped 0.9%, with Qatar National Bank, the Gulf’s biggest lender, down 1.8%.
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