* Banking stocks firm in Saudi
* All property shares gain in Dubai
* Qatar snaps three days of losses
* 24 of 30 Egyptian stocks slide
By Ateeq Shariff
Nov 25 (Reuters) - All major Gulf bourses rose on Monday,
taking a cue from global equity markets as investors turned
optimistic about some progress in U.S.-China trade talks, but
Egypt remained pressured due to sell-off in blue chip stocks.
A Chinese state-backed newspaper reported that Beijing and
Washington were "very close" to an initial trade agreement,
adding to optimism from Friday, when the presidents of both
countries reiterated their desire for a deal.
In Saudi Arabia, the benchmark index edged up 0.2%,
driven by a 2.9% hike in Saudi British Bank and a 0.5%
increase in Al Rajhi Bank.
In the previous session, the index snapped a five-day rally,
which was triggered following a lending boom related to Saudi
Aramco's public listing.
Saudi banks are marketing loans to help locals subscribe
Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO), with
some offering four times the usual lending limit, Reuters
reported citing two financial sources.
The jump in lending has prompted Saudi Arabia's central bank
to monitor banking sector liquidity on a daily basis assuring
that there have not been any liquidity issues so far.
Also, rating agency Moody's on Monday said that the outlook
for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) banks is stable except for
Oman.
However, the Oman's index traded flat.
The Abu Dhabi index closed up 1%, led by a 0.7% rise
in the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank
and a 1.2% gain in telecoms firm Etisalat.
In Dubai, the index ended 0.7% as all its real
estate stocks rose with Emaar Properties gaining 1.2%,
while its unit Emaar Development was up 2.5%.
Among other stocks, logistic company Aramex
advanced 2.8%.
On Sunday, Dubai posted a 2.1% year on year economic growth
in the first half of 2019, with real estate activity having
grown also by 2.1% in the same period and contributed nearly
7.4% to the total GDP.
The Qatari index was up 0.6%, snapping three straight
days of losses, with Commercial Bank increasing 2.3%,
while Qatar International Islamic Bank added 1.8%.
Outside of Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index dropped
0.5%, with 24 of its 30 stocks declining. The country's largest
lender Commercial International Bank fell 0.5% and
Talaat Mostafa slid 3.1%.
SAUDI ARABIA The index edged up 0.2% to 8,014 points
ABU DHABI The index gained 1% to 5,091 points
DUBAI The index added 0.7% to 2,705 points
QATAR The index was up 0.6% to 10,311 points
EGYPT The index down 0.5% to 13,974 points
BAHRAIN The index increased 1% to 1,521 points
OMAN The index was flat at 4,083 points
KUWAIT The index rose 1.3% to 6,421 points
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich)
