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Most stock markets in the Gulf ended lower on Sunday as high-stakes talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce an agreement to resolve the Ukraine conflict.
The highly anticipated Alaska summit yielded no agreement to end or pause the war in Ukraine, failing to remove major uncertainties for oil-reliant economies in the Middle East.
In Qatar, the index fell 0.5%, hit by a 1.2% fall in the Gulf's biggest lender Qatar National Bank. Leading stock indexes in Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait also ended lower.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index, however, gained 0.6%, helped by a 0.4% rise in Al Rajhi Bank and a 5.2% increase in Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development. Elsewhere, oil giant Saudi Aramco added 0.4%.
Aramco signed an $11 billion rent and leaseback agreement involving its Jafurah gas processing facilities with a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), part of BlackRock, it said on Thursday.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index advanced 1.1%, with Commercial International Bank gaining 1.7%.
Egypt registered a record primary surplus of 629 billion Egyptian pounds ($13 billion) in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, equal to 3.6% of the country's gross domestic product, the presidency said in a statement on Saturday.
The primary surplus came 80% above that in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
SAUDI ARABIA rose 0.6% to 10,897
QATAR lost 0.5% to 11,588
EGYPT up 1.1% to 35,973
BAHRAIN eased 0.6% to 1,935
OMAN lost 0.2% to 4,921
KUWAIT fell 0.1% to 9,353 ($1 = 48.2700 Egyptian pounds) (Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by David Holmes)





















