Saudi stocks gain, other Gulf markets mixed

Saudi Arabian shares gained in early trade, registering their fifth consecutive daily gain amid a recovery in oil prices, after the world's largest oil producer agreed with Kuwait to halt oil production at the Al-Khafji field to curb supply glut.

Other major Gulf markets were mixed. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will halt oil production from the joint Al-Khafji field for one month, as of June 1, as part of OPEC+ meeting in April to cut oil production to rebalance global oil markets.

Saudi Arabia's index was up 0.4%, led by the oil giant Saudi Aramco, which gained 0.5%. National Commercial Bank rose 0.5%, its seventh straight day of gains. The country's largest lender on Sunday reported a 2.1% rise in first quarter profit.

Abu Dhabi's index was down 0.5%. First Abu Dhabi Bank slipped 0.9% and telecoms company Etisalat was down 0.4% - it fell for the second day after saying its chief executive had resigned. Aldar Properties was flat but rose as much as 2.3% in early trade despite reporting a 39% fall in first-quarter profit.

The developer said the coronavirus pandemic would impact its operating environment for this year but that it still had a robust balance sheet, with AED 6.8 billion dirhams ($1.85 billion) of free cash and undrawn credit facilities.

Dubai's index was flat, with Emaar properties down 0.8% and Aramex gaining 2.2%. Dubai Financial Market rose 2.1% after reporting a 23.5% increase in quarterly profit to 34.7 million dirhams. The Qatari index was down 0.2% after three consecutive days of gains. Masraf Al Rayan lost 0.7%, while Qatar International Islamic Bank dropped 1.2%.