The Saudi bourse, the Arab world's largest, rallied for a 10th session on Wednesday, led by banks and petrochemical stocks, and all regional markets also rose amid bullish sentiment in equities. The kingdom's benchmark rose 0.8 percent in active trading to a new high since September 2008. Alinma Bank jumped 7.4 percent, Samba Financial Group gained 2 percent and Al Rajhi Bank climbed 0.6 percent.
"A lot of Saudi investors are getting cash-rich and volumes on the market are huge but there is selling as well," said Farouk Miah, acting head of research at NCB Capital. "It's not purely speculative and it's a good sign of the market's maturity." Zain Saudi gained 1.3 percent and was the second most active stock after Alinma. Sources have told Reuters the telecoms operator was looking to refinance its $2.5 billion Islamic syndicated loan that matures in July.
Dar al-Arkan, the biggest property developer, slipped 2.1 percent in heavy trade. After the market closed, it denied accusations of financial misconduct by the firm posted on a website. "The website makes various unproven allegations and accusations. It largely relies on unauthenticated documentations...," the firm said in a statement. In Egypt, telecom shares helped lift the index by 2.4 percent to a seven-month high.
Orascom Telecom Media Technology (OTMT) surged 8.8 percent ahead of a shareholder meeting to vote on the sale of most of the company's stake in Mobinil, which rose 3 percent. "There has been a 10 to 15 percent discount on the chance the deal would not go through," said Hisham Halaldeen of Naeem Brokerage. "When you draw close to the deal you take the up-balance."
Among other telecom stocks, Orascom Telecom leapt 7.9 percent and land-line monopoly Telecom Egypt edged up 0.4 percent. Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) climbed 3.4 percent after Iraq's cabinet approved awarding it a $363 million contract to build a 1,014 megawatt gas power plant in the north of the country. Elsewhere, UAE's markets extend rally with National Central Cooling (TABREED) leading gains on Dubai's index.
Tabreed jumped 14.6 percent, Dubai Financial Market, the Gulf's only listed bourse, rose 7.1 percent and telecoms operator du gained 4.3 percent. Dubai's index climbed 1.9 percent to its highest level since November 2010. Abu Dhabi's National Bank of Abu Dhabi gained 2.2 percent and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rose 1.6 percent.
The benchmark climbed 0.7 percent to a near six-month high. "Abu Dhabi has advanced in a more controlled manner without the extreme moves as seen in Dubai," said Bruce Powers, head of research and analysis at Trust Securities. "The level 2,621 is next target zone. Elsewhere, Qatar's index advanced 0.6 percent, trimming its 2012 losses to 0.4 percent. In Oman, the index gained 0.5 percent to its highest close since July 2011, and Kuwait's benchmark ticked up 0.2 percent.