Most major Gulf markets rose in early trade on Tuesday, with real estate shares boosting the Dubai index.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index rose 0.4%, with Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services gaining 1.4% and Al Rajhi Bank up 0.4%.
Dubai's main share index gained 0.9%, buoyed by a 1.4% rise in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties and a 2.8% increase in Emaar Malls.
Emirates Integrated Telecommunications (du) advanced 3.3%, after the country’s second largest telecoms company agreed to sell its 26% indirect stake in Khazna Data Centre for 800 million dirhams ($217.82 million), which will result in a net profit of 521 million dirhams.
The Abu Dhabi index traded flat. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for Distribution, which leapt 5.5% in the previous session, retreated 1.5%.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) completed a placement to institutional investors of 1.25 billion shares in ADNOC Distribution.
The United Arab Emirates on Monday granted emergency approval for use of a coronavirus vaccine, six weeks after human trials in the Gulf Arab state started.
A phase III trial of a COVID-19 inactivated vaccine developed by Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopham began in the UAE in July and is yet to be completed.
In Qatar, the index added 0.3%, supported by a 2% rise in utility firm Qatar Electricity and Water.
($1 = 3.6728 UAE dirham)
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))
