MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf mostly sluggish, keeps outperforming emerging markets | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf mostly sluggish, keeps outperforming emerging markets | Reuters:

Gulf stock markets were generally sluggish in early trade on Wednesday but the region continued to outperform slumping emerging markets elsewhere in the world, as has been the case for most of the past two weeks.

The Saudi stock index was up 0.3 percent after 45 minutes of trade, outperforming a 0.3 percent drop in the MSCI emerging market index.

Almost all petrochemical shares were firm after Brent oil surged near $80 a barrel over night; top producer Saudi Basic Industries climbed 0.8 percent and Chemanol surged 3.9 percent.