Saudi index falls on banks, most of Gulf moves little

Most major Gulf stock markets moved little on Tuesday with Saudi Arabia pressured by banking stocks, while Egypt was marginally lower after plunging to a 12-month low on Monday as margin calls hit local investors.
The Egyptian blue-chip index, which has fallen 15 percent since the end of August, was down a further 0.1 percent. Global Telecom slid 4.7 percent and Edita Food Industries lost 7.1 percent.
But investment bank EFG Hermes rose 1.7 percent after saying it hopes to close a deal to buy a Nigerian broker next month and also aims to win initial public offer mandates in Saudi Arabia as it seeks new growth markets.
Telecom Egypt Co was up 2.2 percent at 10.90 Egyptian pounds after brokerage CI Capital raised its target price to 14.8 Egyptian pounds.
International Agricultural Products, which is not part of the blue-chip index, jumped 8.5 percent after one of its units decided to make a mandatory offer to buy a stake in Ferchem Egypt Fertilizers for 6.31 Egyptian pounds per share. Ferchem was up 4.9 percent to 5.61 pounds.
The Saudi Arabian index was 0.4 percent lower as Al Rajhi Bank shed 0.5 percent and Samba Financial Group dropped 1.4 percent.
Telecommunications firm Mobily rebounded 1.9 percent after saying the industry regulator had lifted a ban on new sales of its mobile services. The ban was briefly imposed on the grounds that the company had not hired enough Saudi citizens in its executive ranks. On Monday, it fell 2.3 percent in response to the ban.
Al Tayyar Travel dropped 0.7 percent after selling its 30 percent stake in Thakher Investment for 377.4 million riyals ($101 million).
Advanced Petrochemical lost 2.5 percent, falling for a third straight day after reporting a slight decline in quarterly net income.
The Dubai index closed 0.1 percent higher after falling for five straight sessions, propped by a 0.8 percent gain in Emaar Properties.
Takaful Emarat Insurance fell 1.1 percent after Al Ramz Corp divested its investment of 17.8 percent in the company, saying it had achieved its targeted return.