Mideast Stocks: Saudi bourse extends losses on profit-taking; Qatar edges higher

Commercial International Bank Egypt CIB

28/09/2025 13:45

By Ateeq Shariff

Sept 28 - Saudi Arabian stock market nudged lower on Sunday, following losses from the prior session as investors harvested profits after a dynamic rally, spurred by anticipated reforms in foreign ownership policies, while the Qatari index ended higher.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index .TASI fell 0.7%, dragged down by a 3.2% fall in Al Rajhi Bank 1120.SE and a 3% decline in Saudi National Bank 1180.SE.

On Wednesday, the Saudi bourse soared 5.1%, marking its largest single-day gain in over five years, driven by broad-based strength following a Bloomberg News report that regulators may relax the 49% foreign ownership cap on listed companies, a move anticipated to attract significant new foreign investment to the region's leading equity market.

In Qatar, the index .QSI added 0.2%, helped by a 1.3% rise in Qatar Islamic Bank QISB.QA.

Oil prices - a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - rose on Friday as Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure cut the country's fuel exports.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index .EGX30 advanced 1.4%, led by a 1.9% rise in Commercial International Bank COMI.CA, after the lender's shareholders approved using part of the general reserve to boost the issued and paid-in capital by EGP 3.07 billion ($63.83 million).

Saudi Arabia
.TASI fell 0.7% to 11,230
Qatar
.QSI gained 0.2% to 10,978
Egypt
.EGX30 rose 1.4% to 36,166
Bahrain
.BAX eased 0.1% to 1,950
Oman
.MSX30 added 0.8% to 5,159
Kuwait
.BKP lost 0.3% to 9,334

($1 = 48.1000 Egyptian pounds)

 (Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru, Editing by Louise Heavens)

 ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))