Equity indices end mixed in Gulf Arab region

Equity indices ended mixed in the Gulf Arab region, despite positive tailwinds from both east and west. As the price for the "black gold" recovered by 1.2 percent to 106.92 US dollars, stock indices in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, two major oil suppliers, gained 0.70 percent and 0.28 percent, respectively. A rise in investors' sentiment in East Asia and the United States amid new stimulus hopes also lifted the mood in the Middle East, but Market measures in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates fell back further. The ADX in Abu Dhabi declined 0.60 percent to 3,001.95 points. Shares of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, known as ADCB lost half a percentage point to close at 3.92 Dirham (1.07 US dollars). Earlier in the day, ADCB said it settled 4 billion Dirham (1.10 billion U.S. dollars) or 66 percent of a subordinated loan to the United Arab Emirates ministry of finance. The FTSE NASDAQ Dubai UAE 20 Index closed 0.12 percent lower at 2170.21. Shares of DP World, the third biggest maritime port operator globally, gained 0.77 percent, finishing at 13.1 US dollars. Earlier in the day, Craig Hewett, the business development manager of NASDAQ Dubai said the Middle East's only international securities exchange by regulation expected new listings at the end of 2013 which would end a 5-year "radio silence" in the exchange's primary market. Elsewhere in the region, the Qatar Exchange 20 Index gained 0. 18 percent to reach 8,495.25 points, while the Omani MSM30-Index finished unchanged at 5,999.57 points.