Saudi stocks dropped on Wednesday as losses in petrochemical shares outweighed earnings-fuelled gains in some banking stocks, while Qatar Insurance pulled the Qatari market down.

Saudi's index slipped 0.1%, with petrochemical maker Saudi Basic Industries Co 2010.SE shedding 1.1% after earlier this week reporting its lowest quarterly profit since late 2009.

The kingdom has returned to deficit in the second quarter after posting its first surplus in the first quarter since 2014, as oil revenues fell 5% and non-oil revenues declined 4%.

Samba Financial Group fell 1.2% as the lender was trading ex-dividend.

But some banks rose in the wake of strong second-quarter earnings. National Commercial Bank gained 0.7% after posting a 24% rise in second-quarter profit, helped by higher fee and commission income and lower expenses. 

Saudi banks have benefited from higher interest rates and increased demand for loans to support housing and government-related projects.

Ataa Educational also surged 10% on its first day of trading. The school network operator offered 12 million shares representing 30% of its share capital at a price of 29 riyals per share. 

Qatar's index was 0.8% lower, with Qatar Insurance the biggest drag, falling 3.6%.

It reported first-half profit of 410 million riyals including 266 million riyals for the first quarter, indicating earnings reached 144 million in the April to June period.

EFG Hermes had forecast a profit of 209 million riyals for the second quarter.

Petrochemical maker Industries Qatar dropped 1.1% before its earnings report on Thursday. EFG Hermes forecast a 47% plunge in its second-quarter profit.

Dubai's index was up 0.2%. Emaar Properties rose 1.7% to its highest since June 14 last year.

The developer has climbed in recent sessions after signing a memorandum of understanding for an $11 billion project at Beijing's new airport.

Emirates NBD traded 1.7% higher. After the market closed, the lender said it had completed the acquisition of Turkey's fifth largest private bank, Denizbank, in a deal valued at 15.48 billion lira ($2.80 billion). 

Egypt's blue-chip index closed 0.2% higher with the market heavyweight Commercial International Bank rising 3.2%.

Qalaa Holdings however plunged 9.9% after saying its indirect ownership in Egyptian Refining Company had been diluted to 13.14% over a couple of years.

Abu Dhabi index fell 0.3%, hurt by a 1.6% drop in Emirates Telecommunications Group.

($1 = 5.5264 liras) 

(Reporting by Shakeel Ahmad and Maqsood Alam in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan Harvey) ((shakeel.ahmad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net;))