The Qatar and Kuwait benchmarks edged up to 2010 closing highs and Dubai and Abu Dhabi also rose, but Saudi Arabia made its biggest fall in two months amid subdued regional trading as cautious investors awaited first-quarter results.

"The numbers should give investors confidence and we should see a fresh allocation of funds coming into the market," said Shakeel Sarwar, Sico investment bank head of asset management.

"Regional institutions have been sitting on the sidelines and international investors may reallocate money from emerging markets to frontier markets."

The Kingdom’s Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) fell 0.7 percent, its biggest loss since Feb. 6, declining for a third day since Sunday's 17-month high.

Saudi Electricity Co. plunged 6.4 percent after going ex-dividend, Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) fell 1.7 percent and Al-Rajhi Bank slid 2.1 percent. The market closed at 6759.47 points after losing 45.85 points. The sector activity was mostly negative with only three sectors making gains, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily market commentary.

The real estate development, agriculture and food industries and media and publishing made gains of 0.04 percent, 0.64 percent and 1.08 percent respectively. The main losers were in the energy and utilities sector (5.69 percent). The overall market breadth remained negative with 29 advancers against 87 decliners giving it an AD ratio of 0.33, FTH said.

"The momentum has slowed down as we head into earnings season," said Saleh Al-Onazi, a vice-president of Swicorp in Riyadh. "There was a good rally in Q1, so a lot of investors would rather book profits now ... Volatility is increasing."

AUB said a Gulf entity agreed to buy a 25 percent stake from Tamdeen. AUB rose 6.7 percent and is up 33 percent since March 28 as talk of a sale drew buyers. AUB rose 4.6 percent in Kuwait. Tamdeen rose 8.2 percent.

Qatar's index inched up 0.1 percent to a six-month peak, despite losers outnumbering gainers by 13 to four. 

Kuwait reached a 24-week high, rising 0.3 percent.

Emirates NBD rose 4.8 percent, helping Dubai's index advance for a first day in three.

-- With input from agencies