Most markets retreat on lower oil prices, but post weekly gains | Reuters

Most markets retreat on lower oil prices, but post weekly gains | Reuters

Major Gulf markets ended down on Thursday weighed by lower oil prices, but eked out gains for the week on optimism over a COVID-19 vaccine and hopes of a speedy global economic recovery.

Over the past two weeks, financial markets globally were spurred by two U.S. drugmakers, Pfizer PFE.N and Moderna Inc MRNA.O, releasing encouraging news on the effectiveness of their vaccines against the coronavirus infection.

The euphoria fizzled out on Thursday, with oil futures falling as a surge in coronavirus cases and tighter economic restrictions around the world weighed on fuel demand expectations, while also weighing on equities globally. [O/R]

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index .TASI lost 0.5%, with lender Al-Rajhi Bank 1120.SE leading declines with a 0.7% fall.

The Saudi benchmark managed a third consecutive weekly gain of 1.7%.

Dubai's main share index .DFMGI finished down 0.5%, dragged by financial stocks Dubai Islamic Bank DISB.DU and Emirates NBD Bank ENBD.DU, which slid about 0.5% and 1%, respectively. The benchmark posted a weekly gain of 2.4%.

The Abu Dhabi index .ADI registered its second straight session of losses, finishing down 0.8%, but managed a weekly gain of 1.2%.

Major lenders First Abu Dhabi Bank FAB.AD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank ADCB.AD fell 1.7% and 1%, respectively, while telecom firm Etisalat ETISALAT.AD shed 0.5%.

In Qatar, the benchmark index .QSI slipped 1.4%, largely dragged by financial stocks. Qatar National Bank QNBK.QA and Commercial Bank COMB.QA lost 3.7% each.

Bucking the trend, the benchmark indexes of Bahrain .BAX and Kuwait .BKP gained 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively.