Arabtec beats off profit drop to rise on bourse

Market Wrap: Arabtec reversed losses that sent shares to their lowest point in two weeks to end higher even as first quarter results missed expectations.

Arabtec, the country's largest publicly traded construction company, reversed intraday losses to end higher even as first quarter results were a disappointment for analysts.

The company posted profits of Dh26.6m yesterday, a decline of 80.2 per cent on the same quarter a year ago. The results were well short of analysts expectations.

EFG Hermes had forecast a Dh65 million profit, while Bahrain-based SICO had penciled in a Dh70 million.

The company's shares initially fell to their lowest point in two weeks after a sell-off, before recovering to end 0.7 per cent higher to Dh1.41.

In Dubai, Tabreed, the district cooling company, posted a decrease in profits of 25.1 per cent to Dh32.8m for the quarter, though the figures beat analysts' estimates of profits of Dh26m. The company's shares ended flat at Dh1.35.

Tamweel, the Islamic mortgage lender whose shares had been suspended for more than two years, hit the exchange's 10 per cent limit for downwards stock movements and closed at 89 fils. The shares were last traded at 99 fils in November 2008

Dubai's stock market ended 1.2 per cent higher at 1,606.78 points with Union Properties among the biggest gainers as it added 7.1 per cent to 42.4 fils after the company's first quarter results beat most forecasts.

Abu Dhabi's measure closed 0.2 per cent down to 2,670.82 points.

Saudi's Tadawul market closed 0.6 per cent higher at 6712.97 points propped up by petrochemical stocks. Traders said the recovery of the oil price was helping to sustain confidence in the index.

Elsewhere, Doha's market rose 1.4 per cent to 8,665.42, the most since April 18.