Gulf markets narrowly mixed in early trade

DUBAI: Gulf stock markets were narrowly mixed in quiet, early trade on Sunday, with Saudi Arabian petrochemical firm PetroRabigh extending a sharp gain made at the end of last week.

The Saudi index was almost flat after half an hour as PetroRabigh climbed a further 2.1 percent. On Thursday it had jumped 6.6 percent after Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the expanded section of its petrochemical complex would start operations in the first quarter of 2018.

Saudi Printing & Packaging gained 2.5 percent after saying its board had decided to remove Ghassan bin Mohammed Zaatari from the post of chief executive and appoint Fahad Ibrahim al-Mufarraj as managing director pending the appointment of a new CEO. The company did not explain why it made the change.

Arabian Cement fell 0.9 percent after saying its merger talks with Al Safwa Cement had ended without agreement. It did not elaborate.

In Dubai, the index edged down 0.4 percent as courier firm Aramex fell 3.0 percent to 4.17 dirhams, returning to its lowest level since mid-February.

But Bahrain's Khaleeji Commercial Bank, which listed in Dubai last Tuesday, continued rising sharply, jumping 15 percent to 1.69 dirhams. Its shares in Bahrain initially surged but then gave up their gains to stand flat at 0.127 dinar, equivalent to 1.24 dirhams.

Qatar's index slipped 0.1 percent and Kuwait rose 0.6 percent as National Industries Group surged 2.0 percent after saying it had agreed to sell its 24 percent stake in Jordan's Airport International Group and would make a profit of 15.9 million dinars ($52.6 million).