JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All-Share Index edged up 0.2 percent Monday to 6,269 points as petrochemicals blue chip Saudi Basic Industries climbed 1.0 percent.

Saudi Research and Marketing Group rose 6.17 percent after it said it expected to book a capital gain of 28.85 million British pounds ($41.1 million) in the first quarter from the sale of a British real estate asset.

Middle East stock markets were mostly mixed in narrow ranges and moderate trading volumes on Monday, as Dubai tested and held technical support and petrochemical shares supported Saudi Arabia.

The Dubai index closed 0.4 percent lower at 3,266 points, off a low of 3,248 points. It has chart support on its mid-March low of 3,253 points and any break would trigger a minor double top formed by the March peaks and indicating a fresh leg down.

Dubai Parks & Resorts tumbled 6.9 percent in heavy trade. On Sunday it had pulled back 5.1 percent after proposing to boost its capital by 1.68 billion dirhams ($458 million) through a rights issue to finance development of a Six Flags theme park.

Builder Arabtec added 1.3 percent after it scheduled a board meeting for Wednesday to discuss its business.

Abu Dhabi fell 0.4 percent as telecommunications firm Etisalat dropped 0.6 percent. It appointed Saleh Abdullah Al-Abdooli, a veteran of the company who headed its United Arab Emirates and Egyptian operations, as its new chief executive; Etisalat said Abdooli would oversee restructuring of the group but gave no details.

Qatar’s index fell 0.8 percent as telecommunications firm Ooredoo, which had been suspended for its annual general meeting as the overall market slid on Sunday, dropped 2.2 percent.

Gulf Warehousing rose 2.2 percent in very heavy trade, however. It has been active since last Tuesday, when the Qatar Central Securities Depository raised the maximum foreign ownership percentage in the company’s shares to 49 percent of capital.

However, actual foreign ownership has not increased significantly since Wednesday and is still standing at 25.6 percent, according to the latest bourse data.

Kuwait Finance House rose 4.1 percent after saying it had received an offer from investors to buy its stake in affiliate Aref Investment Group. The Kuwaiti stock index edged up 0.2 percent.

Egypt’s index fell in early trade as Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris’s Orascom Telecom continued sliding. It had dropped 3.8 percent on Sunday after Sawiris said a bid to acquire CI Capital, the investment arm of Commercial International Bank (CIB), was being held up by national security concerns. Sawiris also criticized state meddling in business that he said would put off investors.

On Monday, a source familiar with the deal told Reuters that it was expected to go ahead eventually, but that if it did not, CIB would put CI Capital up for sale again.

Orascom Telecom rebounded in late trade, closing 1.3 percent higher and helping the Cairo index finish 0.2 percent higher. CIB shares rose 0.3 percent while Beltone Financial, the Orascom Telecom subsidiary that is to be the vehicle for the acquisition, gained 3.5 percent.