Gulf stock markets dip, tracking oil

DUBAI: Most Gulf stock markets slipped after oil prices fell, while Egyptian equities extended gains following the delay of an unpopular capital gains tax.
Brent oil fell $1.17, or 1.8 percent, to $65.37 a barrel on Friday, declining 2.1 percent on the week as a rallying dollar and profit-taking ahead of a long US holiday weekend cut short a two-day rally.
Dubai’s index fell 1.7 percent as most stocks declined. Builder Arabtec dropped 3.3 percent after Egyptian newspaper Al Mal reported, citing an anonymous source, that a planned deal between the firm and the Cairo government to build 1 million housing units in Egypt has fallen through.
Neither the Egyptian government nor Arabtec were available for immediate comment on the project whose value was estimated at 280 billion Egyptian pounds ($36.70 billion).
Retail and entertainment startup Marka was one of just a handful of gainers, rising 1.6 percent after it said in a statement it expected the earnings of restaurant chain Reem Al Bawadi.
Abu Dhabi’s bourse .ADI dropped 0.7 percent as large lenders National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank fell 0.9 and 1.0 percent respectively.
Qatar’s benchmark was flat, while Ezdan Holding, which is likely to see passive inflows funds this week as it joins MSCI’s emerging markets index, jumped 2.4 percent, offsetting losses in other stocks.
Egypt’s index rose 1.5 percent to a fresh seven-week closing high of 9,122 points, extending the broad rally which started last week when the Cairo government put on hold its plan to introduce a 10 percent capital gains tax.
For a second session in a row, the Cairo benchmark closed above technical resistance at 8,860 points, its early May peak, triggering a minor double bottom formed by the April and May lows and pointing up to around 9,400 points.