Mideast Stocks: Saudi Arabia leads most Gulf bourses lower; Abu Dhabi gains

Mideast Stocks: Saudi Arabia leads most Gulf bourses lower; Abu Dhabi gains

Saudi Arabia led a decline in most Gulf stock markets on Thursday as investors fled riskier assets on worries about global inflation, China's zero-COVID policy and the Ukraine war.

The main stock index in Saudi Arabia dropped 2.7%, mirroring weakness in global peers after an overnight selloff on Wall Street.

Losses were concentrated in Al Rajhi Bank and oil behemoth Saudi Aramco, both of which fell nearly 3%. Saudi Electricity tumbled 5.5% to extend losses from Wednesday when it reported a drop in quarterly net profit.

In Dubai, the main share index was 1.1% lower, hit by a 1.4% fall in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties and a 1.3% slide in sharia-compliant lender Dubai Islamic Bank .

The Qatar index retreated 2.5%, with almost all the stocks trading in negative territory including Qatar National Bank, the Gulf's biggest lender, down 4.6%.

Bucking the trend, the Abu Dhabi index advanced 1%, buoyed by a 7.6% rise in International Holding Co (IHC) .

IHC, chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates, had gained 6.7% in the previous session after completing a 7.3-billion dirham ($1.99 billion) investment deal for three Adani companies.

Separately, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and its