JEDDAH/DUBAI: Most Gulf Arab markets rose yesterday as regional investors sought to boost the value of their portfolios on the final day of the second quarter, with rising oil prices and gains in world equities also providing support.

Abu Dhabi’s index climbed 1.4 percent in its largest gain for two weeks, Qatar and Kuwait each rose 0.9 percent to make their first advances this week, and Oman also moved higher.

Saudi Arabia’s bourse added 0.8 percent, Egypt gained 2.8 percent and Bahrain snapped a six-session losing streak.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) rose 0.8 percent to 5,596 points. Liquidity was however thin at SR5.3 billion but sector activity was relatively positive with 12 sectors closing with positive gains ranging from 0.15 percent by the industrial investment to 2.61 percent by the cement sector. Losses came in only from 3 sectors namely Multi-Investment, Transport and Energy & Utilities losing 0.11 percent, 0.13 percent and 0.57 percent respectively. The market breadth was positive with 70 advancers against 42 decliners giving an AD ratio of 1.66., the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said yesterday in its market commentary.

“The liquidity for the month has also considerably reduced on a month to month basis mainly influenced by the oil prices and the weak dollar. Market waits for the momentum with investors waiting for the quarterly corporate earnings season to determine the direction for TASI,” the FTH said.

Dubai was the exception, falling 0.6 percent following heavy late selling and analysts said they expected yesterday’s gains to be temporary.

— With input from agencies