Abu Dhabi and Dubai stocks pulled back with investors treading cautiously as they await upcoming monetary policy guidance from the Federal Reserve. Saudi and Qatari stocks outperformed with some outstanding corporate earnings cheering the markets.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index traded 0.4 per cent higher to close the day at 10,267 points, with banking, healthcare and real estate stocks leading the advances. The earnings also served as good guidance for investors with Sulaiman Alhabib, Saudi Kayan Petrochemical and Alinma Bank among top gainers after earlier this week announcing improved quarterly profits.
Flying high
Saudi Advanced Industries ticked up after the first-quarter profits more than doubled and sales scaled up by around 84 per cent, while National Company for Glass Industries clocked a near four-fold surge on the bottom-line for the same period. The kingdom's largest lender Saudi National Bank added to its gains on the back of a 20 per cent rise in the quarterly profits.