Kuwait's Zain climbed to a five-week high on Thursday on talk the telecom firm was closer to a $950 million sale of its stake in Zain Saudi, as regional bourses ended mixed amid uncertainty in global markets. Zain climbed to at its highest value since August 4 after market talk it was making progress in selling its 25 percent stake in its Saudi affiliate.
"Market rumours have started again that they (Zain) have made progress in selling their stake in Zain Saudi," said Shahid Hameed, Global Investment House regional asset management head. "This is boosting their shares ... The market is expecting them to make a good profit from this sale."
Zain ended up 4.2 percent, trimming its year-to-date losses to 35 percent. Kuwait's index rose 0.9 percent. Zain has agreed to sell its stake in Zain Saudi to joint bidders Kingdom Holding and Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco). However, Batelco's chief executive said on Thursday the $950 million deal was still weeks away.
The euro slipped against the dollar and stock markets rose ahead of a European Central Bank meeting that is likely to flag a halt to its monetary tightening cycle. Doha Bank climbed 2.6 percent to its highest level in more than seven months, buoyed by Qatar's salary hike for state staff, but the country's share index slipped as investors remained cautious on the global economy.
The Gulf Arab state announced salary and pension hikes of up to 120 percent for state and military staff. Lender Masraf Al Rayan and Qatar Islamic Bank fell 0.4 percent each. Qatar's benchmark dropped 0.4 percent. Egypt's main index rose, buoyed by gains in Orascom Telecom (OT) after Russia's Vimpelcom, which bought a controlling stake in the firm in March, released results that reassured investors in Egypt.
OT, the most heavily traded stock, jumped 3.6 percent. "(Vimpelcom's) results show the impact of the merger, which means that the merger actually happened or financially happened so people are moving towards the deal price, whatever it is in their perception," said Osama Mourad of Arab Finance Brokerage. Vimpelcom said on Wednesday that its own second-quarter net profit fell 29 percent due to higher interest and depreciation costs following its disputed acquisition of Wind Telecom, the parent company of OT. Egypt's index added 0.6 percent.
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