DUBAI, July 17 (Reuters) - Gulf stock markets moved little early on Sunday as the failed coup attempt in Turkey kept investors cautious, while Saudi Arabia's largest listed bank dropped after reporting second-quarter earnings.
The Saudi index
.TASI
edged up 0.3 percent in the first 50 minutes of trade as Almarai
2280.SE
climbed 2.7 percent after it said second-quarter net profit rose 18.6 percent year-on-year to 628.8 million riyals ($167.7 million), beating analysts' average forecast of 530.3 million riyals.
But National Commercial Bank
1180.SE
fell 1.5 percent after its quarterly profit came in at 2.44 billion riyals, at the low end of estimates; analysts had on average expected 2.54 billion riyals.
The failed coup attempt in Turkey is expected to have little financial impact on the Gulf because trade and investment ties are relatively minor. Nevertheless, fund managers said the event made some investors more wary of buying.
Qatar National Bank
QNBK.QA
, which last month completed the acquisition of Turkey's Finansbank
FINBN.IS
, fell 0.7 percent, helping to pull the Qatari stock index
.QSI
down 0.4 percent.
Dubai
.DFMGI
edged up 0.3 percent as builder Arabtec
ARTC.DU
, the most heavily traded stock, jumped 4.0 percent. On Thursday it said major shareholder Aabar Investments had agreed to give it a 400 million dirham ($109 million) debt facility to help it weather "challenging" conditions in the industry.
Abu Dhabi
.ADI
added 0.1 percent although Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
ADIB.AD
sank 3.5 percent after it posted on Thursday a 1 percent rise in second-quarter net profit but warned it was restricting the amount of new credit it provided because of an increase in defaults across its business lines.
Bahrain
.BAX
underperformed the region, dropping 0.7 percent, after Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported that a court had dissolved the country's main Shi'ite Muslim opposition group al-Wefaq and liquidated its funds, advancing a crackdown on the Gulf kingdom's opposition.
(Reporting by Andrew Torchia) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com; +9715 6681 7277; Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
The Saudi index
But National Commercial Bank
The failed coup attempt in Turkey is expected to have little financial impact on the Gulf because trade and investment ties are relatively minor. Nevertheless, fund managers said the event made some investors more wary of buying.
Qatar National Bank
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Bahrain
(Reporting by Andrew Torchia) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com; +9715 6681 7277; Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))