Major stock markets rose in early trade on Monday, with gains in National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group helping the Saudi index after they signed a binding merger agreement.
The benchmark index in Saudi Arabia gained 0.2%, with Samba Financial Group rising 2.7%, while National Commercial Bank (NCB) was up 1.7%.
National Commercial Bank, the kingdom's biggest lender, entered a binding merger agreement with smaller lender Samba Financial Group to create a combined entity with 837 billion riyals ($223.13 billion) in assets, NCB said on Sunday.
Low oil prices and weak economic growth are driving bank consolidation across the Gulf.
Dubai's main share index rose 0.4%, with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties gaining 1.5% and it unit Emaar Malls was up 2.1%.
Dubai's non-oil private sector expanded for a third consecutive month in September as it continued to see a modest improvement in business conditions, a survey showed on Sunday.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit Dubai Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 51.5 in September from 50.9 in August.
The Abu Dhabi index added 0.3%, helped by a 0.5% rise in the country's largest lender First Abu Dabhi Bank and a 1.5% increase in Aldar Properties.
In Qatar, the index inched up 0.2%, bolstered by a 0.6% rise in Qatar National Bank, a day after it retreated 1.7%.
On Sunday, the Gulf's largest lender saw a roughly 18% decline in its third-quarter profit as it booked more loan loss provisions amid global economic uncertainty.
($1 = 3.6400 Qatar riyals) ($1 = 3.7511 riyals)
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru, editing by Louise Heavens) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))
