Most of the major Middle East stock markets eased on Tuesday, after International Monetary Fund revised its growth projections downwards for the region due to the double blows of lower oil prices and the coronavirus crisis.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit sectors such as tourism and trade, while low oil prices and crude production cuts have strained the finances of regional oil exporters and impacted remittances.
The benchmark index in Saudi Arabia slipped 0.3%, with Samba Financial Group losing 1% and Mobile Telecommunications sliding 5.7%.
The telecoms firm reported a net profit of 59 million riyals ($15.73 million) in the second-quarter, down from 130 million riyals a year earlier.
Shares in the United Arab Emirates, where key sectors such as tourism and transport are sharply hit by the outbreak, were on course to extend losses from the previous session.
Dubai's main share index dropped 0.8%, weighed down by a 1.1% fall in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties and a 0.8% decrease in sharia-compliant lender Dubai Islamic Bank.
The Abu Dhbai index eased 0.6%, as the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank lost 0.7%, whereas telecoms firm Etisalat was down 0.8%.
In Qatar, the index edged up 0.1%, helped by an 8.1% surge in Qatar Aluminium's stock and a 0.2% increase in shares of lender Masraf Al Rayan.
The lender reported a net profit of 1.08 billion riyals ($296.70 million) in the first-half, an increase of 0.5% compared to the same period last year.
($1 = 3.7508 riyals)
($1 = 3.6400 Qatar riyals)
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))
