DUBAI: Stock markets in the Gulf ended mixed on Thursday helped by news of aggressive economic stimulus from China, while geopolitical tensions in the region weighed on sentiment.

China’s central bank on Tuesday unveiled its biggest stimulus since the pandemic to pull the economy out of its deflationary funk and back towards the government’s growth target.

Driving the optimism was an official readout from a meeting of China’s politburo that said the country would deploy “necessary fiscal spending” to meet this year’s economic growth target of roughly 5%.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index gained 0.3%, with ACWA Power Company advancing 4.8%.

On the other hand, oil giant Saudi Aramco dropped 0.5%.

Oil prices - a catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets - slipped, reversing earlier gains, on a media report that Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, will give up its price target in preparation for raising output.