Major Gulf stocks track global rally on hopes of virus vaccine by year end

Major Gulf stock markets rose in early trade on Monday, tracking a rally in their global peers triggered by expectations of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Friday it could have a coronavirus vaccine ready in the United States by the end of this year.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index rose 0.2pc. Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) increased 1.1pc.

SABIC and Saudi Aramco have decided to re-evaluate their $20 billion crude-oil-to-chemicals project and are now looking at integrating existing facilities instead.

"SABIC and Saudi Aramco remain committed to continue advancing crude to chemicals technologies through existing development programs with the goal to increase cost efficiency, competitiveness and value creation opportunities for petrochemicals" the petrochemical maker Said.

However, Aramco was down 0.1pc. Elsewhere, Yanbu National Petrochemical (Yansab) rose as much as 0.8pc.

Yansab reported nearly an 8pc drop year-on-year in the third-quarter profit to 195.6 million riyals ($52.15 million).

The quarterly profit, however, saw a nearly 337pc surge when compared to the previous quarter as average sales prices improved during the third quarter and saw higher sales quantity.

Dubai's index was up 0.5pc as the blue-chip developer Emaar Properties rose 1.2pc and Emirates NBD Bank gained 0.5pc.

The lender's board will meet in the day to discuss the third-quarter financial results.

The Abu Dhabi index inched up 0.2pc.

First Abu Dhabi Bank was up 0.4pc, while Emirates Telecommunication edged up 0.2pc.

The Qatari index gained 0.2pc with the Gulf's largest lender Qatar National Bank advancing 1.2pc.

Qatar Gas Transport (Nakilat) added 1.1pc.

The gas transporter is slated to report its third-quarter results later in the day.