Mideast Stocks: Major Gulf markets gain in early trade

Major stock markets in the Gulf rose in early trade on Tuesday, with property shares supporting the Saudi index.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index gained 0.4%, with Jabal Omar Development advancing 3.1% and oil behemoth Saudi Aramco adding 0.7%.

Dubai's main share index rose 0.3%, helped by a 1.3% gain in logistic firm Aramex and a 1.4% increase in shopping malls operator Emaar Malls.

In Abu Dhabi, the index added 0.3%, with the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank rising 0.2%.

The United Arab Emirates federal government posted a second-quarter budget surplus of around 9.75 billion dirhams ($2.65 billion), state news agency WAM said on Monday, up from a surplus of 1.8 billion dirhams in the first quarter.

Revenues in the second quarter were at 34.744 billion dirhams and expenditures were at 24.997 billion dirhams, WAM said, citing a finance ministry report.

The Qatari index  edged up 0.1%, driven by a 1.4% gain in Commercial Bank.

The lender has hired banks to arrange a potential issuance of five-year U.S. dollar-denominated bonds, a document showed on Monday.

 

($1 = 3.6728 UAE dirham)

(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))