Major Gulf bourses end mixed; Egypt outperforms

Major Gulf bourses end mixed; Egypt outperforms

Major stock markets in the Gulf ended mixed on Thursday, with the Saudi index extending losses, while the Egyptian bourse outperformed the region as investors await central bank's decision on interest rate. Market sentiment remains mixed as the earnings season continues to produce good results while concerns about inflation levels cloud expectations, said Wael Makarem, senior market strategist at Exness. Oil prices, a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial stocks, eased to their lowest in two weeks after official figures showed a surprise jump in U.S. inventories of crude, while rising cases of COVID-19 in Europe, Russia and some outbreaks in China dented hopes for a global economic recovery. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index dropped 0.4%, dragged down by a 3% slide in Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) SABIC reported a net profit of 5.6 billion riyals ($1.49 billion), up from 1.1 billion riyals in the same period last year, but missed Refinitiv-compiled analysts' consensus estimate of 6.1 billion riyals. Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) plunged 8.2%, a day after it reported a sharp decrease in earnings compared with the previous quarter. Saudi Aramco finished flat, a day after it fetched a $2 trillion valuation. On Sunday, the oil giant is