Gulf stock markets generally fell early on Tuesday, with Saudi Arabia marginally lower and Dubai and Qatar declining by bigger margins, after comments by U.S. President Donald Trump on OPEC's planned supply cut drove oil prices lower.
Brent oil LCOc1 hovered near multi-month lows under $70 a barrel following a decline for a record 11th consecutive session amid softening demand, and after Trump said he hoped there would be no oil output reductions.
The Saudi stock index was down 0.2 percent after 75 minutes. Saudi Basic Industries fell 0.5 percent while Al-Rajhi Bank and National Commercial Bank were flat.
However, Medgulf rose 6.2 percent to its highest level in nearly three months in heavy trade after signing a health insurance contract with Saudi Electricity.
Dubai's main index fell 0.8 percent, dragged down by a 2.8 percent drop in banking heavyweight Emirates NBD.
Islamic Arab Insurance lost 2.6 percent after posting a third-quarter loss compared with a year-ago profit. Union Properties was down 1.6 percent after its loss widened in the third quarter.
Qatar's blue-chip index shed 0.7 percent as lender Masraf Al Rayan fell 1.6 percent and Industries Qatar slipped 0.9 percent. Qatar National Bank was down 0.9 percent.
The Abu Dhabi index was flat, with telecommunications giant Etisalat gaining 0.7 percent. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, which had soared over 13 percent to a 2-1/2-year high on Monday after saying it would let foreigners buy its shares, retreated 1.4 percent.
(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Torchia) ((Shashwat.Awasthi@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S.+1 646 223 3403; outside U.S. +91 80 6749 3403; Reuters Messaging: shashwat.awasthi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
