DUBAI - Gulf stock markets were mixed on Tuesday as some markets such as Saudi and Qatar took heart from a rise in global stocks and oil prices, while Abu Dhabi's stock market dropped 2 percent as First Abu Dhabi Bank went ex-dividend.
Qatar stock market rose 0.7 percent after slumping to its lowest level in more than two months on Monday when two big Qatari companies went ex-dividend.
Saudi stocks jumped 0.6 percent, buoyed by telecom and financial stocks. Saudi Arabia Mining Co rose 1.81 percent after sharply falling this week as the majority owner of the world's largest fully integrated aluminium facility was weighed down by news about planned rise in U.S. tariffs.
"Global markets have improved and the Saudi market is already balanced, so people are optimistic and the bet is still on leading stocks and banks," said Mazen Al Sudairi, head of research at Rajhi Capital.
U.S. stocks rose after four days of decline and Asian shares also regained ground on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump faced growing pressure from political allies to pull back from proposed steel and aluminium tariffs.
Crude prices held firm, underpinned by robust demand forecasts and prospects for informal contacts sought by OPEC with U.S. shale oil producers at a key industry meeting in Houston this week.
In Abu Dhabi, the index was weighed down by financials as First Abu Dhabi Bank dropped 7.3 percent as the stock went ex-dividend. FAB announced a cash dividend of 0.7 dirhams and was supposed to go ex-dividend on Tuesday.
On the ex-dividend date, the exchange reduces the stock price by the amount of the dividend to account for the fact that new investors are not eligible to receive dividends and are therefore unwilling to pay a premium.
Dubai stocks were down 0.25 percent, weighed down by Aramex which dropped 2.9 percent, even though stocks in some of the consumer companies were up.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Marwa Rashad; additional reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Tom Arnold) ((Saeed.Azhar@thomsonreuters.com; +971 44536787; Reuters Messaging: saeed.azhar.reuters.com@reuters.net))
