MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf mostly firm, Saudi and Kuwait continue uptrends

Gulf stock markets were mostly firm in early trade on Wednesday with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait leading the region up, as they have for several days.

The Saudi index climbed 0.7 percent in the first hour. Builder Khodari, which has been strong in the past week on expectations for a better Saudi construction market this year as austerity steps slow, surged 4.8 percent.

In Dubai, the index edged up 0.2 percent as Dubai Islamic Bank added 1.2 percent after posting a 58.4 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit to 1.37 billion dirhams ($373 million), above analysts’ average forecast of 850.4 million dirhams.

But real estate firm Deyaar dropped 3.2 percent after quarterly profit fell to 48.3 million dirhams, a 52.4 percent decline.

Weakness in a few blue chips pulled down Abu Dhabi’s index , which lost 1.2 percent. National Bank of Abu Dhabi slid 1.4 percent and telecommunications firm Etisalat sank 1.4 percent.