Tadawul index plunges 3.5%

JEDDAH: Shares in Saudi Arabian telecommunications firm Mobily plunged their 10 percent daily limit on Tuesday after the firm restated 18 months of earnings and posted a shock profit drop, undermining the entire stock market.
Mobily, the counry's second biggest telecommunications operator, tumbled to a 21-month closing low of SR72.00 at the opening and remained at that level for the rest of the day.
At the close, about 310,000 of Mobily’s shares had traded while sell orders of about 27.6 million shares were unfulfilled, indicating the stock could decline further on Wednesday.
“It’s total frustration in such a large and professional company as Mobily,” said Mohammad Omran, a member of the Saudi Economic Association, a think tank at Riyadh's King Saud University. “We believe the stock will continue to fall until it reaches around SR60.”
Omran said such a valuation would be fair after Mobily on Monday cut its profits for 2013 and the first half of 2014 by a combined SR1.43 billion ($381.2 million), citing accounting errors. The firm also revealed a 71 percent drop in third-quarter profit.
The Capital Market Authority subsequently announced it had launched an investigation into Mobily, 28 percent owned by the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat, to determine whether it had violated bourse rules - just a few months before the stock market is due to open up to direct foreign ownership.
“It’s positive this came out now û Saudi still maintains a very good reporting system and accounting standards, and I don’t think one company can spoil the whole market,” said Omran.
But the whole Saudi market slid, with the main share index falling 3.5 percent to 9,785 points — a two-week low, as the Mobily debacle raised concern among some investors about the possibility of the regulator cracking down on other companies' earnings statements before the market opens to foreigners.
In addition to Mobily, the price of Brent crude oil fell to a more than four-year low near $82 a barrel on Tuesday.
Shares in Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the Gulf’s largest listed company and one of the world’s top petrochemicals producers, dropped 5.5 percent.
Petrochemical product prices are closely linked to oil, while Saudi manufacturers get cheap energy supplies so higher crude prices provide a competitive advantage and bigger margins.
Most other Gulf markets were flat or suffered minor declines, but telecommunications firms fared poorly across the region.
Vodafone Qatar sank 2.7 percent after it reported a quarterly loss of 53.5 million riyals ($14.7 million), worse than forecasts by two analysts polled by Reuters, who had expected a loss between 21.6 million and 30.6 million riyals.
Shares in Zain, Kuwait's biggest telecommunications firm by subscribers, dropped 1.6 percent after it posted a 13 percent fall in third-quarter profit to 46 million dinars ($158 million); analysts had on average forecast 60.1 million dinars. It cited foreign exchange losses and Iraq’s civil war disrupting operations in the country.
But Egypt’s benchmark index climbed 1.0 percent to a four-week closing high of 9,531 points. It is up 12 percent from Oct. 19's three-month low.
“A base was formed at 8,500 points, with the market supported by foreign institutions which have been net buyers for the past week,” said Mohamed Radwan, director of international sales at Pharos Securities in Cairo.
“The market has confused a lot of people and whether it continues toward the year-high (of 9,811 points) or has another drop is yet to be determined.”
Orascom Telecom Media and Technology OTMT.CA was the among the main supports, climbing 2.4 percent and accounting for nearly half of all shares traded. Its shares are up 18 percent since billionaire chairman Naguib Sawiris became chief executive on Oct. 23.
After the close, his brother Nassef Sawiris said his company, OCI, would make "huge" investments in Egypt following the resolution of a tax dispute between its subsidiary Orascom Construction Industries OCIC.CA and the tax authority.
Bahrain’s bourse was closed for a national holiday.