Saudi Arabia's stock market fell sharply on Tuesday amid escalating trade tensions between China and the United States, while Qatar and Abu Dhabi opened higher on back of their financials.
A year-long U.S.-China trade war boiled over on Monday as Washington accused Beijing of manipulating its currency after China let the yuan drop to its lowest point in more than a decade.
The Saudi Arabian index was down 1.3%, continuing its losing streak for the fifth straight session as all its banking shares declined.
National Commercial Bank lost 3.2%, while Saudi British Bank 1060.SE plunged 4.4% after it swung to second-quarter loss.
The latter posted a net loss of 254 million riyals ($67.72 million) in the second quarter from a profit of 833 million riyals a year earlier.
Walaa Cooperative Insurance dived a further 5.3%. On Monday, the insurer posted a pre-zakat loss in the second quarter.
Dubai's index traded 0.4% lower with Emirates NBD shedding 0.9% and Emaar Development was down 1.3% after reporting a 24% decrease in first-half net profit.
Dubai prime residential property prices fell 1.9% in the first half of the year due to the market being oversupplied, Reuters reported citing real estate company Savills.
In Qatar, the index rebounded 1% after its worst day in two years on Monday when it plunged 4.2%. Gulf's largest lender Qatar National Bank rose 2.7% while Industries Qatar gained 2.5%.
But, disappointment over poor earnings hit some firms in Qatar. Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding dropped 4.6% as its first-half profit more than halved and Barwa Real Estate, which reported lower profit for the same period, fell 1.5%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index snapped five-session losing streak to rise 0.5%, in a boost by Market heavyweight lender First Abu Dhabi Bank which rose 1.1%, also after five days of consecutive losses. ($1 = 3.7508 riyals)
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff & Maqsood Alam in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918067497129;))
