Most Gulf stock markets were little changed in thin trading early on Monday, with banking shares hurting Dubai while petrochemical stocks supported Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabian benchmark index rose 0.2%, with petrochemical maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp rising 0.7% and oil giant Saudi Aramco 0.3%.
But, shares of Saudi Industrial Investment Group and National Petrochemical Company retreated 1.9% and 2%, respectively. On Sunday, the shares had surged on news the two were in merger talks.
Dubai's main share index dropped 0.4%, weighed down by a 0.5% fall in Emirates NBD Bank and a 0.7% decrease in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties.
The Abu Dhabi index slipped 0.2%, hurt by a 0.2% ease in the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank.
In Qatar, the index added 0.3%, with United Development Company jumping 7.5%. Commercial Bank edged up 0.1%. The lender closed a dual-tranche $227.5 million syndicated term loan facility.
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V) ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))
