Gulf stock markets rose on Tuesday as several Saudi companies beat first-quarter earnings estimates and oil prices held up better than feared after the failure of Sunday's Doha meeting to agree on an output freeze. The Saudi stock index climbed 1.7 percent to 6,532 points as Saudi Basic Industries, the biggest petrochemical producer, gained 2.3 percent. SABIC reported a 13.2 percent drop in net profit to 3.41 billion riyals ($909.4 million) after analysts had on average forecast 2.84 billion riyals. In addition, its acting chief executive told Reuters SABIC was seeking acquisitions to strengthen its fertiliser business and could announce purchases in the chemicals and polymers sectors by the end of the third quarter, while it might sell some Asian or US assets. The Saudi construction sector has also been hit hard by low oil prices, but major builder Khodari rose 1.6 percent. Its profit plunged 70.6 percent to 4.11 million riyals but beat the estimate of EFG Hermes, which had forecast a loss of 6.25 million riyals. Mouwasat Medical Services jumped 6.7 percent after posting a 27.2 percent rise in profit to 71.1 million riyals, beating an average forecast of 60.7 million riyals. Jarir Marketing Co rose 1.8 percent even though it said it was cutting its first-quarter cash dividend to 1.75 riyals per share from 2.25 riyals. Dubai's index added 1.1 percent, helped by a 1.4 percent rise in Emaar Properties after chairman Mohammed Alabbar told reporters that its performance in the first quarter looked good because of better-than-expected sales and cost-cutting. The company has not yet announced first-quarter earnings. But Dubai Parks and Resorts fell 0.7 percent to 1.38 dirhams after announcing details of a 1.68 billion dirham ($457.4 million) rights issue to finance the development of its Six Flags-branded theme park. The company will issue shares at 1.0 dirham each. Abu Dhabi rose 1.0 percent. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank soared 9.5 percent in unusually heavy trade after Bloomberg reported it planned to open its shares to 25 percent foreign ownership. After the close, the bank said it had no plans for such a change. Qatar rose 0.6 percent as Widam Food jumped its 10 percent daily limit after reporting a 77 percent leap in first-quarter net profit. In Egypt, the index surged 2.6 percent to 7,864 points in active trade, breaking above technical resistance on the October peak of 7,716 points. Exchange data showed foreign investors were again net buyers. Juhayna Food Industries gained 2.4 percent, continuing to rise after it reported on Sunday a first-quarter net profit of 80.4 million Egyptian pounds ($9.05 million) versus 65.2 million pounds in the same period last year.
