A late rebound in oil prices helped Saudi Arabia’s stock market close higher yesterday while most other Gulf bourses were lower. Real estate shares helped to lift Egypt’s market. 
Stocks around the region fell early on after purchasing managers’ surveys gave fresh evidence that economies are slowing. Growth in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector fell to its lowest level in January since the survey began in August 2009, while growth in the UAE dropped to a 46-month low, and activity in Egypt shrank for a fourth month. 
But Brent crude, which has been closely correlated to the Saudi stock index this year, bounced above $33 a barrel in the afternoon, helping the index close 0.9% higher. 
Petrochemical blue-chip Saudi Basic Industries fell as much as 1.5% early on but closed 1.9% higher. Saudi Kayan, another petchem seen by analysts as particularly vulnerable to low oil prices and this year’s rise in gas feedstock prices, surged 5.2%. 
Apart from petrochemicals, most activity focused on second-or third-tier speculative stocks, with Tihama Advertising closing down its 10% daily limit and real estate firm Al Andalus rising by that amount. 
Other Gulf bourses closed earlier in the day before oil’s rebound and they fared less well. Dubai’s index edged up 0.2% as Emaar Properties slid 1.0% but builder Drake & Scull rose 2.5%. 
Courier firm Aramex tumbled 3.4% after reporting a 36% fall in fourth-quarter net profit to 57.6mn dirhams ($15.7mn); SICO Bahrain had forecast 97.6mn dirhams. Aramex attributed the drop to provisions for employee incentives, and said it would keep expanding through acquisitions. 
Abu Dhabi’s index ended 0.8% lower as banks which led the market up earlier this week fell back. First Gulf Bank slipped 1.7%. 
Egypt’s index gained 1.0%. Several major real estate shares rose and Emaar Misr, which had climbed 6.7% on Tuesday after Prime Holding started coverage of the stock with a “buy” rating and a fair value estimate of 3.94 pounds, rose a further 5.5% to 2.32 pounds. 
Global Telecom jumped 3.9% and GB Auto rose 2.7%. 
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Oman’s index dropped 0.5% to 5,166 points; Kuwait’s index edged down 0.3% to 5,119 points, while Bahrain’s index fell 0.7% to 1,181 points.