0635 GMT - Abu Dhabi's market edges lower in early trade,
slipping off multi-month highs as investors book gains, while
Dubai's bourse extends gains.
Abu Dhabi's Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real
Estate each shed 2.5 percent. The two developers surged
on Tuesday after sources told Reuters the firms reached an
initial merger agreement.
Aldar on Wednesday said its merger talks with Sorouh are at
an advanced stage.
Abu Dhabi's measure slips 0.3 percent to 2,715
points, down from an 18-month high.
Dubai's index gains 0.3 percent to 1,733 points, a
fresh 10-month high.
Emaar Properties climbs 1.2 percent as investors
bet on rising housing prices despite concerns of a new limit on
mortgage lending.
Commercial banks in the United Arab Emirates plan to ask the
central bank to delay and soften new rules placing caps on
mortgage loans for residential housing, banking industry sources
said on Sunday.
A central bank circular last week said mortgage loans for
foreign individuals should not exceed 50 percent of the property
value for a first purchase of a home, and 40 percent for second
and subsequent homes. The caps for UAE citizens were set at 70
percent and 60 percent.
Carrier Air Arabia slips 0.6 percent, while
contractor Arabtec extends gains after winning a $653
million Louvre project on Tuesday. Its share are up 1.2 percent.
Elsewhere, Oman's benchmark rises 0.5 percent to
5,806 points, while Kuwait and Qatar trade near-flat.
----------------------------------------------------------------
0550 GMT - Qatar's $2.5 billion loan to stabilise a currency
crisis in Egypt is likely to spur fresh buying, while other
regional markets will look towards local catalysts as
fourth-quarter earnings season begins.
Political strife has set off a rush to convert Egyptian
pounds to dollars over the past several weeks, sending the
currency to a record low against the U.S. dollar and
draining foreign reserves to a critical level.
The equity market, however, continues to see foreign buyers
with the benchmark index climbing to a 10-week high on
Tuesday. Investors are betting on an improving economy, with
hopes a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund
will come through soon.
The market rose a staggering 50.8 percent in 2012, the best
performing market among regional peers. Some are expecting it to
give strong returns this year as it heads towards pre-crisis
levels when former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted.
In Abu Dhabi, Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real
Estate on Tuesday added fuel to a rally on UAE bourses
driven by bets of strong fourth-quarter earnings.
Aldar and Sorouh jumped 6.4 and 7.2 percent respectively
after sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the
pair had reached an initial agreement to create a combined
entity with assets worth more than $15 billion.
Aldar on Wednesday said its merger talks with Sorouh are at
an advanced stage.
"There is good buying power in the market - Aldar and Sorouh
confirmed that merger talks are at an advanced stage, which will
give good confidence to investors today," Mohab Maher, senior
manager - institutional desk at MENA Corp, says in a note.
Dubai's index hit a 10-month high, rising 2.1
percent to 1,727 points, amid a surge in trading volumes. It
could break the strong resistance at 1,730 points, Maher says.
Elsewhere, Asian shares rose on Wednesday after rounds of
profit-taking from a sharp rally at the start of the new year
subsided, while investors waited warily for corporate earnings
season to kick off in full force.
(Reporting by Nadia Saleem; Editing by David French)