Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) helped lift Riyadh’s stock market after it reported a third-quarter net profit at the top end of forecasts.
Tadawul All-Share Index rebounded 1.1 percent, ending three days of declines and trimming its loss since Sunday to 3.0 percent.
SABIC, the Gulf’s largest petrochemical producer, climbed 1.8 percent to SR84.00 after posting a net profit of SR5.22 billion ($1.39 billion) in the three months to Sept. 30, down 6.8 percent from a year ago. Analysts polled by Reuters had on average predicted SR5.05 billion.
Riyad Capital said in a note that although SABIC’s sales dipped on a quarterly and yearly basis, margins expanded to offset some of that negative impact. It raised its target price for SABIC to SR86.00 from SR80.00 but maintained a “neutral” rating.
“We have increased gross margin assumptions for the full year and beyond as global petrochemical spreads have been healthy.”
Roughly two-thirds of Saudi petrochemical producers have now reported third-quarter earnings, with generally weak results. 
Nama Chemicals, a mid-sized producer, said it made a loss of SR32.6 million versus a loss of 24.0 million in the same period of 2015; its shares closed flat.
Middle East Healthcare jumped 7.8 percent after its quarterly net income rose 1.4 percent to SR92 million.
The positive mood spilled into some shares that were hit earlier this week by disappointing results. Lender Saudi Hollandi rebounded 2.4 percent.
But Emaar the Economic City, developer of an industrial city near Jeddah, dropped 1.6 percent after reporting a third-quarter net loss of SR81 million versus a profit of SR8 million a year ago.

In Dubai, the index built positive momentum in the last hour of trade to close up 0.1 percent. 
No major companies posted fresh results; DXB Entertainments climbed 3.3 percent ahead of opening its theme parks at the end of this month.
Gains in blue chips helped boost Abu Dhabi’s stock index 0.9 percent. First Gulf Bank added 1.8 percent, trimming its losses to 1.3 percent since Sunday.

Source: Arab News