RIYADH - Stocks in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirate rose slightly on Monday amid weak volumes ahead of Eid holidays, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, while financial and real estate stocks sent Qatar down.
Trading in the Gulf is usually muted ahead of holidays as some traders cash in shares and are generally cautious of any developments in global markets during the closure of their bourses.
Eid holiday begins on Wednesday in the Saudi market and on Thursday in UAE markets, extending into the first few days of next week.
In Saudi, the index added 0.03 percent, with petro-chemicals firm SABIC and Al Rajhi Bank rising 0.6 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. Samba financial group lost 0.9 percent and Arab Bank fell 1.2 percent.
In Dubai, the main index rose 0.15 percent, backed by a 0.4 percent rise by Dubai Islamic Bank which rose for the second session a row after its 5.1 billion dirham rights issue was nearly three times oversubscribed.
Arabtec fell 1.7 percent, as traders took profit following a two-day rally that sent the shares 10.2 percent higher.
The Dubai market rallied over the past days with enhanced levels of liquidity as the emirate announced a series of initiatives to reduce corporate costs and stimulate growth.
The Abu Dhabi index rose 0.3 percent amid muted trading on a handful of shares. First Abu Dhabi Bank rose 0.8 percent, while Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank fell 1.5 percent.
In Doha, the index lost 0.3 percent as financial and real estate stocks were trading on a negative note.
Qatar National Bank and Qatar Islamic Bank lost 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively while Barwa Real Estate shed 1.2 percent.
(Reporting by Marwa Rashad Editing by Peter Graff) ((marwa.rashad@thomsonreuters.com; +966114632603 ; Reuters Messaging: marwa.rashad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
