Gulf markets mixed in thin trade

Gulf stock markets were narrowly mixed in slow early trade on Sunday as Oman's bourse reported a technical glitch and Qatar was closed for a bank holiday.

Dubai's index slipped 0.2 per cent, largely because of lender Emirates NBD, which fell 2.2 per cent.

Builder Arabtec Holding edged down 0.6 per cent after rising 1.9 per cent in the previous session. Index compiler MSCI increased the stock's weighting in its emerging markets index and passive funds apparently adjusted their allocations accordingly at the end of last week.

Abu Dhabi edged up 0.3 per cent as telecommunications firm Etisalat climbed 1.2 per cent, extending gains since it posted fourth-quarter results last week.

RAK Properties jumped 3.9 per cent. The firm will pay a dividend of Dh0.05 this month, which offers an attractive yield against its share price of Dh0.80.

Stock benchmarks in Kuwait and Oman were nearly flat. Oman's bourse opened with a delay after reporting a technical problem with its trading programme.