Gulf mostly soft in early trade, Qatar pulls back

DUBAI: Gulf stock markets were mostly soft in early trade on Tuesday as Qatar pulled back after surging for two days during which investors positioned for annual dividend announcements in the next few weeks.

The Qatari stock index which had gained 2.6 percent on Monday, retreated 1.2 percent. Some of the best performers of the past two days lost the most; Islamic bank Masraf Al Rayan  was down 2.2 percent.

Aamal Co, which climbed as much as 5.8 percent in the opening minutes, was up only 0.9 percent after an hour of trade. It announced plans for an affiliate, which it owns 50-50 with Egypt's El Sewedy Electric Co, to build three factories to produce copper wires, aluminium bars and drums for cables - the country's first such factories.

Saudi Arabia's index edged down 0.1 percent although Al Ahlia Cooperative Insurance gained 4.2 percent after saying a board overseeing the health insurance industry had given it approval to operate for another three years.

Dubai's index fell 0.2 percent as builder Drake & Scull dropped 1.8 percent on further profit-taking after big gains since November.