JEDDAH: The Saudi stock market rose Sunday, bucking a downtrend in the rest of the Gulf.
Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All-Share Index added 2.1 percent at 6,663 points in heavy trade, confirming a break above technical resistance at its August peak of 6,396 points and pointing toward the July peak of 6,703 points.
Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) surged 6.2 percent after saying it had been awarded SR219.46 million ($58.5 million) from Zain Saudi, following an arbitration ruling in a contract dispute between the two firms.
Zain rose 0.6 percent, however, as investors welcomed the fact that the award was much less than the SR2.2 billion which Mobily had originally been seeking.
PETROCHEMICALS GAIN 1.1%
Saudi banking shares continued their ascent, with Saudi Hollandi surging 6.7 percent to SR11.90 — still a 24 percent discount to the mean fair value of analysts polled by Reuters.
Petrochemical shares firmed, with the sector’s index gaining 1.1 percent, even though Brent crude oil tumbled 2.4 percent to below $45 barrel on Friday.
In recent months the market has become less closely correlated to oil — first because of fears of systemic problems in the economy as liquidity tightened, and then because Riyadh’s huge international bond issue last month eased those fears.
“What we are witnessing this year is that idiosyncratic risk is driving market performance, and the stock market performance has somewhat decoupled from the movement of oil prices,” said Santhosh Balakrishnan, analyst at Riyad Capital.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, shares in MSCI’s emerging market index slid after a sharp drop in emerging markets globally on Friday. 
Dubai’s main index fell 1.3 percent as Emaar Properties lost 3.0 percent.
DXB Entertainments, which is not part of the MSCI index but could be added in a review this week, lost 2.6 percent after the amusement park builder recorded a widening net loss for the three months to Sept. 30 of AED103.6 million ($28.2 million), versus a year-ago loss of AED37 million.
The company spent AED38.3 million on marketing expenses and incurred operating expenses leading up to the opening of two theme parks. The company said it expects to complete a third theme park in 2019.
In Abu Dhabi, the index closed down 1.1 percent as First Gulf Bank dropped 0.8 percent and Etisalat fell 1.4 percent
Qatar’s main index slid 0.9 percent with Industries Qatar slipping 1.8 percent.
Egypt’s stock market gained for a 12th straight session on Sunday. 
The IMF loan approval had been widely expected, but it added fresh fuel to a rally caused by Egypt’s decision to float its currency on Nov. 3, which has created hopes for major inflows of foreign money.