Gulf shares subdued, Aramco drops again

All major Gulf markets opened in the red on Tuesday, dampened mainly by financials, while petrochemical shares weighed on Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi benchmark index was down 0.2 percent as Samba Financial Group lost 2.2 percent, while Saudi Arabian Mining Co dipped 1.4 percent.

Elsewhere, the kingdom’s oil giant Saudi Aramco dropped 0.3 percent to 35.5 riyals ($9.46). The state-owned firm took a breather in the previous session to snap four straight days of losses.

However Saudi Industrial Services Company rose 2.3 percent after its unit Red Sea Gateway Terminal signed a new 30-year concession with the Saudi ports authority to develop the northern part of Jeddah port.

The Qatari index slipped 0.4 percent with Qatar Islamic Bank and Qatar Commercial Bank declining 0.6 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Dubai’s index was down 0.2 percent, hurt by a decline in banking shares with Mashreq Bank dropping 7.8 percent.

However, Emaar Properties edged up 0.3 percent. On Monday, Reuters quoted informed sources as saying Dubai’s biggest developer would sell the observation decks of the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, potentially raising $1 billion.

In Abu Dhabi, the index inched down 0.1 percent as Abu Dhabi National Energy Company dropped 8 percent, its third straight day of decline.

The energy firm signed a new $3.5 billion facility on Monday, replacing its existing $3.1 billion revolving credit facility.

By contrast, Dana Gas rose 2.4 percent after receiving a one-off $42 million dividend payment from Pearl Petroleum in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Source: Reuters