Most major stock markets in the Gulf rose early on Tuesday, after a record-setting day on Wall Street, although Qatar bucked the trend to trade lower.
Wall Street reached all-time closing highs on Monday as the Nasdaq Composite added nearly 1% and the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 0.75%.
Oil prices, a key catalyst for the Gulf region's financial markets, also hit 13-month highs, helped by rising optimism about a pick up in fuel demand.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index advanced 1.2%, on track to extend gains for a fourth consecutive session, buoyed by a 3% jump in Al Rajhi Bank.
National Commercial Bank (NCB), the country's largest lender, and Samba Financial Group climbed 1.8% and 2.6%, respectively.
Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority approved NCB's request to increase its capital to merge with Samba via a securities exchange offer.
The CMA gave the nod for NCB to increase its capital to 44.78 billion riyals ($11.94 billion) from 30 billion riyals, by issuing 1.48 billion ordinary shares.
Dubai's main share index added 0.7%, with its largest lender Emirates NBD Bank rising 2.2% and blue-chip developer Emaar Properties up 2.4%.
In Dubai, where a second wave of coronavirus infections threatens to upend a tourism boom, stocks were on course to end four sessions of losses.
The Abu Dhabi the index was up 0.4%, led by a 1.1% gain in First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).
FAB, the biggest lender in the United Arab Emirates, is planning its debut euro-denominated bond issue, a document showed on Monday, the latest Gulf issuer to raise capital amid a downturn caused by the pandemic.
In Qatar, the index, however, eased 0.5%, hit by a 1.5% fall in Qatar National Bank and a 0.8% fall in sharia-compliant lender Masraf Al Rayan.
Elsewhere, petrochemical firm Industries Qatar lost 0.4%, after it reported a fall in full year net profit.
($1 = 3.7510 riyals)
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))
