Saudi Arabia's stock market opened lower on Sunday, with Saudi Basic Industries Co (SABIC) ,the world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals firm, weighing on the index after reporting its lowest quarterly profit since late 2009. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index slipped 0.1% with SABIC and Saudi Electric falling 1.8% and 2.6% respectively. SABIC reported second-quarter net profit slid 68% to 2.12 billion riyals ($565 million), citing lower average selling prices and a decrease in the share of contributions from associates and joint ventures. EFG Hermes had projected a net profit of 2.67 billion riyals. Last week, SABIC halted negotiations with Clariant to form a new high performance materials company from the combined assets of the two companies. Financial shares were also weaker with Riyad Bank, Samba Financial Group and Banque Saudi Fransi down 0.8%, 0.9% and 0.7% respectively. However, Al Rajhi Bank rose 0.6%. In Abu Dhabi, the index was down 0.6%, weighed down by First Abu Dhabi Bank, the United Arab Emirates' largest lender, and telecom Etisalat, which fell 1.0% and 0.6% respectively. Dana Gas dropped 1.1% after Reuters reported the gas producer has hired advisers to sell its assets in Egypt. Dubai's index rose 0.1%, helped by 0.4% gains in both Emirates NBD, the emirate's biggest lender, and Dubai Islamic Bank. Source: Reuters
