The Qatar stock index fell for a second consecutive session, bogged down by banks and profit-taking, while Egypt's blue-chip index extended gains on institutional buying.

The Egyptian index added 1.3 percent to reach its highest in two weeks, buoyed by real estate shares. Talaat Mostafa shot up 4.9 percent and Eastern Co rose by 2.8 percent.

Egyptian institutions extended net buying of 33 million Egyptian pounds in the previous session with 64 million Egyptian pounds on Wednesday, Hussein Elalfy, Head of Research at SHUAA Securities Egypt said.

The Qatar index  dropped 1.2 percent and suffered its worst one-day drop since August, pressured by bank shares for the second consecutive session.

Qatar Islamic Bank slid 4.4 percent and Qatar National Bank lost 3.3 percent.

The Qatar market has been the Gulf's best performer this year and started the week with strong gains after a government reshuffle that included appointment of new heads to its state-run energy company and sovereign wealth fund.

Saudi Arabia's index fell 0.3 percent, dragged down by a near 10 percent fall in Savola Group, the kingdom's largest food products company, after it swung to a quarterly loss from a profit a year earlier.

Saudi-listed Al Tayyar Travel Group also dropped 2 percent after posting a quarterly loss.

Market heavyweight Saudi Basic Industries gave up 0.8 percent, with oil prices falling to their lowest since August. 

Abu Dhabi's indexrebounded from initial losses and was up 0.3 percent thanks to gains among finance stocks. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank  rose 1 percent while Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank gained 1.1 percent.

Dubai's main index rose 0.5 percent, boosted by real estate stocks. Emaar Properties  gained 1.6 percent while Damac Properties was up 1.5 percent.

Four out of six real estate stocks on Dubai's blue-chip bourse closed in positive territory.

SAUDI ARABIA

* The index was down 0.3 percent at 7,793 points.

DUBAI

* The index gained 0.5 percent to 2,829 points.

ABU DHABI

* The index rose 0.3 percent to 5,016 points.

QATAR

* The index was down 1.2 percent at 10,253 points.

BAHRAIN

* The index was up 0.2 percent at 1,316 points.

OMAN

* The index was up 0.6 percent at 4,446 points.

EGYPT

* The index rose 1.3 percent to 13,616 points.

KUWAIT

* The index rose 0.6 percent to 5,293 points.

($1 = 3.7509 riyals)

(Reporting by Muvija M and Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru Editing by David Goodman) ((Muvija.M@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780, outside U.S. +91 80 6749 3638; Reuters Messaging: muvija.m.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))