Saudi Arabian stock market nudged lower on Sunday, following losses from the prior session as investors harvested profits after a dynamic rally, spurred by anticipated reforms in foreign ownership policies, while the Qatari index ended higher.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), opens new tab fell 0.7%, dragged down by a 3.2% fall in Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE), opens new tab and a 3% decline in Saudi National Bank (1180.SE), opens new tab.
On Wednesday, the Saudi bourse soared 5.1%, marking its largest single-day gain in over five years, driven by broad-based strength following a Bloomberg News report that regulators may relax the 49% foreign ownership cap on listed companies, a move anticipated to attract significant new foreign investment to the region's leading equity market.
In Qatar, the index (.QSI), opens new tab added 0.2%, helped by a 1.3% rise in Qatar Islamic Bank (QISB.QA), opens new tab.
Oil prices - a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - rose on Friday as Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure cut the country's fuel exports.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab advanced 1.4%, led by a 1.9% rise in Commercial International Bank (COMI.CA), opens new tab, after the lender's shareholders approved using part of the general reserve to boost the issued and paid-in capital by EGP 3.07 billion ($63.83 million).
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