Gulf stock markets move sideways at early trade

Gulf stock markets moved sideways during Monday’s early trade with little fresh corporate news to spur buying, while uncertainty over oil prices also deterred some investors.

Saudi Arabia’s index was flat after 70 minutes of trade with most petrochemical companies little changed and the banking sector index edging down.

Real estate developer Jabal Omar gained 1.4 percent after saying it had ended a contract with builder Saudi Binladin Group, settling an outstanding 196 million riyal ($52.3 million) debt to Binladin by transferring to it ownership of units in a project.

Dubai’s index edged down 0.1 percent as Union Properties, the most heavily traded stock, pulled back 2.5 percent after leaping 11.4 percent on Sunday.

Abu Dhabi’s index dropped 0.6 percent as telecommunications blue chip Etisalat fell by the same amount, while Qatar edged down 0.3 percent as Qatar national bank lost 0.5 percent.

Brent crude oil dropped 1.4 percent to below $47 a barrel in Asian trade on fears that producer countries meeting this week could fail to agree on a meaningful output cut.

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, said on Sunday night that he believed the oil market would balance itself in 2017 even if producers did not intervene, and that keeping output at current levels could therefore be justified.

Source: Reuters