Major stock markets in the Gulf rose in early trade on Tuesday, led by advances in financial shares, with Qatar on track to extend gains for a fourth straight session.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index rose 0.3%, with Saudi Telecom Company rising 0.8% and Banque Saudi Fransi up 0.9%.
Credit Agricole sold its remaining 4% stake in Banque Saudi Fransi to two Saudi government-related institutional investors in a deal worth 1.45 billion riyals ($387 million), the French bank said on Monday.
Elsewhere, Mobile Telecommunications Company Saudi Arabia (Zain KSA) gained 1.1%.
The telecoms firm raised a 6-billion-riyal ($1.6 billion) loan to refinance existing debt and secure access to additional liquidity to support growth, it said in a bourse filing.
Dubai's main share index added 0.4%, driven by a 1.2% gain in sharia-compliant lender Dubai Islamic Bank and a 2.8% jump in logistic firm Aramex.
On Monday, Aramex ended two sessions of losses triggered when the logistics firm confirmed last week that a portion of its warehouse facility in Morocco had been damaged in a fire.
The Abu Dhabi index gained 0.3%, helped by a 0.5% increase in the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank and a 0.9% rise in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
In Qatar, the index was up 0.7%, with Qatar National Bank up 2.2%.
($1 = 3.7507 riyals)
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Pravin Char) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))