JEDDAH — Stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Egypt stayed in tight ranges on Sunday. Saudi Arabia's stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index edged up 0.42 percent as petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries climbed 0.2 percent after oil prices rallied on Friday. Al Rajhi Bank, which will pay a SR0.5 per share dividend on Monday, edged up 0.5 percent. But telecommunications stocks Zain Saudi and Saudi Telecom sank 4.8 and 0.9 percent respectively, while shares in their competitor Mobily remained suspended. The bourse regulator has demanded a detailed explanation of why Mobily revised its 2014 earnings to a loss last week, having previously announced a profit. On Thursday, the Capital Market Authority said it had assigned a specialized team to review Mobily's financial statements, conduct site visits, obtain documents and hear concerned parties' statements, indicating the probe could be lengthy. Meanwhile, Egypt's market edged down 0.3 percent, trading with no clear direction as investors awaited a constitutional court ruling on the constitutionality of the parliamentary election. The ruling is due later on Sunday; the election is scheduled to start in three weeks, and a go-ahead would support market sentiment. Oman's bourse reported a technical glitch and Qatar was closed for a bank holiday. Dubai's index slipped 0.2 percent, largely because of lender Emirates NBD, which fell 2.2 percent. Builder Arabtec Holding edged down 0.6 percent after rising 1.9 percent in the previous session. Index compiler MSCI increased the stock's weighting in its emerging markets index and passive funds apparently adjusted their allocations accordingly at the end of last week. Abu Dhabi edged up 0.3 percent as telecommunications firm Etisalat climbed 1.2 percent, extending gains since it posted fourth-quarter results last week. RAK Properties jumped 3.9 percent. The firm will pay a dividend of 0.05 dirham this month, which offers an attractive yield against its share price of 0.80 dirham. Stock benchmarks in Kuwait and Oman were nearly flat. Oman's bourse opened with a delay after reporting a technical problem with its trading program. — SG/Reuters
