Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) helped Saudi Arabia’s stock index gain ground in early trading on Sunday, while Dubai’s market remained flat after falling to its lowest level in more than five years last week.
Ma’aden was up 2.6 percent after the company said on Dec. 6 that the firm will start commercial production on Sunday at its plant producing aluminium flat-rolled products. Ma’aden Rolling Company is 74.9 percent owned by Ma’aden and 25.1 percent owned by Alcoa.
Al Rajhi Bank gained 0.1 percent, while Jabal Omar Development Co added 0.6 percent.
The main Saudi index was up 0.3 percent within the first hour of trading.
After plunging to its lowest level in more than five years on Thursday, the Dubai index regained ground in early trading before dipping by 0.1 percent later.
Dubai Islamic Bank lost 0.4 percent, while DAMAC Properties, which last month reported a 68 percent plunge in third-quarter net profit, slipped 1.7 percent.
In Abu Dhabi, the main index lost 0.3 percent, weighed down by banking giant First Abu Dhabi Bank, which sank 0.6 percent. In Qatar, the index added 0.4 percent, with Industries Qatar rising 1.1 percent.
(Reporting by Tom Arnold Editing by Keith Weir).