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By Celine Aswad
DUBAI, April 16 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's two largest listed banks were the main drag on the index on Sunday on news that U.S. insurers have filed a lawsuit against the lenders over the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, while real estate shares and troubled Dana Gas weighed on Abu Dhabi.
Shares of Al Rajhi Bank
The two banks, and companies affiliated with Osama bin Laden's family and several charities are being sued for at least $4.2 billion.
Ten other banks also dipped, helping drag the index
NCB is expected to report first-quarter results on Monday.
In Abu Dhabi, shares of Dana Gas
"It seems the troubles of the gas explorer are not going to go away any time soon, and continued delayed payments and unstable dynamics in the energy sector will keep investors away from this stock for now," said a Dubai-based equities portfolio manager.
Dana's board also considered the restructuring of its Islamic bond.
Shares of real estate developers, which were the main drag on the benchmark at the end of last week, continued to weigh on the index as investors cashed out on disappointment over the softening of property prices in the emirate in the first quarter.
Average sales prices of apartments fell 1 percent and villa prices dropped 9 percent in the three months ending March 31 compared with the last quarter of 2016, according to a report by property consultants Chestertons.
Shares of the largest listed developer Aldar Properties
The index
Elsewhere, shares of National Bank of Kuwait
The bank attributed the rise in net profit to higher net interest income and income from Islamic financing as a result of strong growth in business volumes.
The index on which it trades
Dubai's index
Shares of construction-related companies slumped; Arabtec
Most foreign fund managers were absent from the session on Sunday because of the Easter holiday.
Egypt's bourse was closed for Easter Sunday.
SUNDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
* The index
DUBAI
* The index
ABU DHABI
* The index
QATAR
* The index
KUWAIT
* The index
OMAN
* The index
BAHRAIN
* The index
($1 = 3.6730 UAE dirham) (Editing by Alison Williams) ((celine.aswad@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6224 7653)(Reuters Messaging: celine.aswad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))