Egypt's stock index suffered its largest decline in 14 months on Wednesday, a day after unprecedented anti-government protests rocked the country. Cairo's benchmark fell 6.1 percent, its biggest drop since November 30, 2009, slumping to a five-month low.
"It is the fear of the unknown," said investment and capital market analyst Nader Khedr. "Of course the big caps will be highly affected because they have foreign interest." Seventeen stocks made double-digit declines, including investment bank EFG-Hermes, mobile telephone operator Mobinil and Ezz Steel.
Egypt said on Wednesday it was banning demonstrations and quickly dispersed protesters who tried to gather, seeking to draw a line under unprecedented protests against President Hosni Mubarak's rule. Abu Dhabi's Aldar Properties fell 2.7 percent to 1.81 dirhams, slumping to a new record low after Credit Suisse cut its rating on the state-linked firm to underperform, warning the indebted developer's high capex spending and leverage should limit its ability to generate cash flow.
"Aldar only wrote-off a portion of its previous fair value gains on investment properties, which suggests that the risk of further write-offs remains as asset prices continue to decline in Abu Dhabi," Credit Suisse wrote, slashing its fair value for Aldar to 1.59 dirhams from 2.28 dirhams. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rose 5.3 percent to a two-week high after its quarterly profit beat estimates.
"Although asset quality remains a concern, the bank materially improved its revenue generation capabilities during the year and appears to have done most of the thorough balance sheet clean up initiated two years ago," Shuaa Capital wrote in a research note. Masraf Al Rayan climbed 2 percent to lift Qatar's index after the Islamic bank's fourth-quarter earmings increased slightly, but most stocks fell.
"I would probably wait until Q1 earnings come out - Q4 numbers have been pretty decent, so after a few more quiet weeks I wouldn't be surprised to see some more market strength in April," said Ibrahim Masood, senior investment officer at Mashreq Bank. Qatar's index rose 0.3 percent to take its gains to 10.5 percent since a December 2 FIFA vote chose Qatar to host the 2022 soccer World Cup.
"The World Cup is 11 years away and it would be nice if everyone had suddenly become long-term investors, but I don't think that's the case," added Masood. Zain Saudi Arabia rose 0.6 percent after sources said the mobile operator's chief executive is looking for backers for a buyout of Zain's $733 million stake, bucking broad declines on Saudi Arabia's index.
Kuwait's Zain must sell its 25 percent holding in the Saudi affiliate so its $12 billion stake sale to Abu Dhabi's Etisalat can proceed. This is a regulatory requirement in Saudi Arabia where Etisalat already operates through its own affiliate Mobily.
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