Most major Gulf stock markets rose in early trade on Sunday, supported by gains in financial stocks, though Qatar bucked the regional trend to trade lower.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index was up 0.3%, with Al Rajhi Bank and petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic Industries up 0.5% and 0.8% respectively while retail company Savola Group advanced 1.6% on a sharp rise in second-quarter profit.

The Dubai index gained 0.6%, helped by a 1% gain for Emirates NBD Bank and a 0.7% rise for Emaar Properties.

Union Properties rose 1.8% after the real estate developer reduced its second-quarter loss to 38.6 million dirhams ($10.5 million) from 84.1 million dirhams a year earlier. 

However, DXB Entertainment dropped 0.8% after second-quarter losses widened to 258 million dirhams from 233 million dirhams a year earlier.

The Abu Dhabi index added 0.2%, helped by a 0.5% rise in the country's largest lender, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and a 1.3% gain for Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

Dana Gas, however, retreated 1.4%. The United Arab Emirates-based energy company on Thursday posted a first-half loss of 69 million dirhams, which included a $37 million impairment charge related to oil and gas assets in Egypt. 

In Qatar, the index eased 0.1%. Lender Masraf Al Rayan lost 0.5%, while Qatar National Bank, the Gulf's largest lender, was down 0.3%.

($1 = 3.6728 UAE dirham)

(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru Editing by David Goodman) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))