Bank shares led Saudi Arabia's stock market lower on Sunday as most regional bourses fell. In Saudi Arabia, the index lost 0.8 percent with Al Rajhi Bank and Samba Financial Group falling 1.1 percent and 3.3 percent respectively. The Gulf's largest dairy company Almarai shed 6 percent after reporting a 28 percent drop in fourth quarter profit.
The United Arab Emirates two main indexes, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, each slipped 0.2 percent. Abu Dhabi was dragged down by telecom, banking, and real estate shares. Telcom Etisalat lost 0.6 percent, while the UAE's biggest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) fell 1.4 percent. Aldar Properties lost 0.7 percent,
Dubai's index, reversing earlier gains, was weighed by property and aviation shares. Major developer DAMAC Properties lost 4.0 percent. Last week, BofA Merrill Lynch downgraded DAMAC to 'underperform' from 'neutral'. BofA said in a research note it was also lowering its 2018 to 2020 earnings per share forecast on DAMAC by an average of 47 percent, citing expectations of weaker booked sales and gross margin.
Air Arabia shed 1.9 percent. It said last week it had filed a criminal case against former board member and Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi. The budget carrier has previously said it has an exposure of $336 million to collapsed private equity firm Abraaj. Dubai saw some support from blue chip bank Emirates NBD, which added 0.5 percent. Last week it reported a 10 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit. Developer Emaar Properties also rose 0.5 percent.
In Qatar, the index lost 0.3 percent with telecom Vodafone Qatar shedding 1.8 percent and Qatar Gas Transport fell 1.5 percent. Bahrain's index and Kuwait's index bucked the regional trend to close up 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, both helped by banking shares.
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