MIDEAST STOCKS-Blue-chips drive early buying in Dubai, as Saudi opens lower | ZAWYA MENA Edition

MIDEAST STOCKS-Blue-chips drive early buying in Dubai, as Saudi opens lower | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Blue-chip shares helped drive up Dubai stocks on Wednesday, while the Saudi exchange was in negative territory in early trade. Most Gulf markets opened higher backed by rising oil prices, pushed up by looming U.S. sanctions against Iran which threaten to cut supplies to an already tight market despite pledges by producer cartel OPEC to raise output to make up for the disruptions.  Emaar Properties opened 1.4 percent higher on the Dubai index, while Dubai Islamic Bank and Emirates NBD were up 0.8 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.