UAE and other GCC stock markets advanced in step with their banking stocks, which rallied after a series of upbeat first-quarter earnings.
Saudi Arabia s benchmark index traded 0.9 per cent higher at 10,231 points with financial stocks leading the gains. Al Jazira Bank surged 8.9 per cent after first-quarter profits jumped 77 per cent to SR321.6 million. The kingdom s largest lender - newly created Saudi National Bank - inched up around 1 per cent after posting a 20 per cent spike in the bottom-line. Saudi banks have outperformed so far in announcing gains for the first three months of the year.
Rallying for a third day