By: Mahmoud Gamal

Mubasher: The Gulf stock markets are expected to continue their sideways-to-bullish performance on Sunday, amid increased purchases of blue chips by foreign investors, in line with the rise of oil prices.

GCC bourses, topped by the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) and Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), managed to rebound by the end of last week.

Traders increased their positions in the stocks which reached attractive price levels by the end of last week, capital market analyst Ines Mguidich said.

The QSE is expected to continue its recovery, while the Dubai and Saudi bourses are likely to continue their sideways performance until their liquidity improves, she added.

The markets’ liquidity is still weak as investors’ sentiment is affected by the volatile first-quarter financials, Mguidich noted.

Last Thursday was the last day for the first-quarter financial disclosures of Saudi-listed firms.

Saudi-listed companies’ financial results came in line with or even higher than expectations in most sectors, capital market analyst Mohamed Al Azmi stated.

The petrochemical and banking sectors showed signs of recovery in terms of quarterly results as compared to the prior-year period, he noted.

Most foreign portfolio investors still tend to buy GCC mid-cap and blue chip stocks, Al Azmi concluded.

Translated by: Julian Nabil