Saudi market tumbles in early trade after drone attacks

Nov 21 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's stock market fell sharply in early trade on Sunday, a day after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they had fired 14 drones at several Saudi Arabian cities, including at Saudi Aramco facilities in Jeddah. read more

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI) dropped 1.6%, with Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE) retreating 2.2% and Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) losing 1.6%.

The oil giant was also under pressure after India's Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS) said on Friday it had decided with the Saudi company to reevaluate Aramco's proposed roughly $15 billion investment in Reliance's oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business. read more

The 20% stake sale in the unit was announced in 2019, but was delayed as oil prices and demand crashed last year due to the pandemic.

The Abu Dhabi index .

Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI) gained 0.2%, on course to rise for a sixth session in seven, with logistic firm Aramex (ARMX.DU) putting on 2.4%.

Elsewhere, Amlak Finance (AMLK.DU) surged 15%, extending gains for a sixth session.

On Sunday, the Islamic finance company swung to net profit of 887.1 million dirhams ($241.55 million) for the third quarter, from a loss of 151.4 million dirhams year ago.

In Qatar, the index (.QSI) eased 0.2%, hit by a 1.2% fall in Commercial Bank (COMB.QA).

($1 = 3.6726 UAE dirham)

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