By Ateeq Shariff
(Reuters) – Stock markets in the Gulf were mixed on Monday amid rising geopolitical tensions in the region, while investors await more companies to report quarterly results.
Hundreds of Beirut residents fled their homes late on Sunday, as Israel prepared to attack sites linked to the financial operations of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index advanced 1.1%, led by a 2.8% rise in Al Rajhi Bank and a 0.4% increase in aluminium products manufacturer Al Taiseer Group.
Oil giant Saudi Aramco added 0.2%.
Oil prices – a catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets – rose, recouping some of last week’s more than 7% decline on worries about demand in China, the world’s top oil importer, and easing concerns about potential supply disruptions in the Middle East.
Dubai’s main share index finished 0.2% higher, with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties gaining 2.3%.
The Abu Dhabi index closed flat.
Separately, Lulu Retail Holdings, which runs one of the Middle East’s biggest hypermarket chains, kicked off an initial public offering on Monday that bankers say could be the UAE’s largest this year.
In Qatar, the index eased 0.1%, with Qatar Islamic Bank losing 1.9%.
Meanwhile, the Gulf state is finding it hard to agree new deals to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan and South Korea as rising competition from the U.S. and elsewhere with more flexible contract terms challenges Doha’s decades-old dominance of the market.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index jumped 3.1%, snapping three sessions of losses, as almost all the stocks on the index were in positive territory including Commercial International Bank, which was up 3.9%.
SAUDI ARABIA rose 1.1% to 12,008
ABU DHABI was flat at 9,290
DUBAI added 0.2% to 4,478
QATAR eased 0.1% to 10,607
EGYPT up 3.1% to 30,445
BAHRAIN gained 0.2% to 1,993
OMAN fell 0.2% to 4,800
KUWAIT dropped 0.2% to 7,531
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
