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Saudi Arabia's stock market ended slightly lower on Sunday after a fall in oil prices at the end of last week, while banking shares helped lift Qatar's benchmark index.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index <.TASI> fell 0.2% in a choppy trade, hit by a 4.6% fall in ACWA Power Company <2082.SE> and a 3.3% decline in Saudi Arabian Mining Co <1211.SE>.
Oil prices - a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - settled more than 2% lower on Friday as traders grew less fearful of prolonged supply disruptions from a hurricane in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, while China's latest economic stimulus packages failed to impress some oil traders.
Deflationary pressures in the Chinese economy have been a heavy drag on oil prices this year, with customs data showing a sixth consecutive month of year-over-year declines in the country's crude oil imports for October.
Separately, the general chief of staff of Saudi Arabia's armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, will visit Tehran on Sunday to meet with his Iranian counterpart and discuss defence ties, Iran's state media reported the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff as saying.
The Qatari index <.QSI> - which resumed trading following a two day break - gained 0.5%, with Qatar Islamic Bank <QISB.QA> advancing 1.1% and the Gulf's biggest lender Qatar National Bank <QNBK.QA> was up 0.4%.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index <.EGX30> added 0.4%, with top lender Commercial International Bank <COMI.CA> rising 1.4%.
SAUDI ARABIA | <.TASI> fell 0.2% to 12,103 |
QATAR | <.QSI> gained 0.7% to 10,118 |
EGYPT | <.EGX30> rose 0.4% to 31,394 |
BAHRAIN | <.BAX> eased 0.2% to 2,027 |
OMAN | <.MSX30> rose 0.2% to 4,714 |
KUWAIT | <.BKP> added 0.4% to 7,735 |
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Fenton)