Most major Gulf markets were negative early on Wednesday, with property shares weighing on the Dubai index, while Abu Dhabi bucked the trend.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index slipped 0.1%, with oil giant Saudi Aramco and petrochemical firm Saudi Basic Industries both falling 0.6%.

However, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) advanced 1.5% after it reported on Tuesday a nearly 24% rise in third-quarter net profit, as net commission income rose and impairment charges dropped.

The kingdom's largest lender posted a net profit of 3.16 billion riyals ($842.60 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 2.55 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Dubai's main share index fell 0.2%, hurt by a 1.8% drop in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties and a 1.4% decline in its unit Emaar Malls.

The Abu Dhabi index rose 0.4%, led by a 5.2% jump in aquaculture company International Holding and a 0.7% increase in the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank.

In Qatar, the index dropped 0.5%, dragged down by a 0.9% fall in the Gulf's largest lender Qatar National Bank and a 1.3% decrease in Commercial Bank.

Elsewhere, Qatar Insurance retreated 1.8%. The insurer posted a net loss of 147.4 million riyals ($40.49 million) for the first nine months of 2020, compared to a profit of 485.2 million riyals a year earlier.

($1 = 3.6400 Qatar riyals)

($1 = 3.7503 riyals)

(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))