Most major Gulf indexes opened lower on Wednesday, with Saudi hurt by a slew of weak earnings, while Qatar extended losses for a fifth straight session.
In Saudi Arabia, the benchmark index dropped 0.3% with National Commercial Bank dropping 0.8% and Al Rajhi Bank losing 0.3%.
Sahara International Petrochemical (Sipchem) also slid 3.2% after it reported a more than 38% plunge in third-quarter net profit. The petrochemical maker said it was due to a decrease in selling prices for most of the products.
Saudi Arabia Mining Co declined 1.2% after it posted a third-quarter net loss of 92 million riyals, compared with a profit of 415 million riyals a year earlier.
The miner attributed the fall to decrease in sales volume of ammonia, aluminium and alumina.
In Dubai, the index fell 0.4%, with Emaar Properties shedding 0.7% and Emirates Integrated Telecommunications easing 1.2%.
Qatar's index also opened 0.3% lower as Qatar Navigation lost 4.3%, its biggest intraday fall since March, while Qatar National Bank was down 0.6%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index traded flat with First Abu Dhabi Bank easing 0.1% while Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank was up 0.9%.
(Reporting by Shamsuddin Mohd in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams) ((shamsuddin.mohd@thomsonreuters.com; +918067497252;))
