Saudi's main index gained 0.8 percent, aided by a 1.6 percent rise in Al Rajhi Bank and a 1.2 percent increase in Saudi Basic Industries. Contractor Al Khodari rose 1.7 percent after its board proposed to use its statutory reserve of 71 million riyals ($19 million) to reduce a part of its losses. The proposal seeks to cut accumulated losses to 202 million riyals from 273 million.
Egypt's blue-chip index was flat, with El Sewedy Electric adding 2 percent and Commercial International Bank inching up 0.1 percent. Egypt's biggest listed lender said its board had approved a capital increase to 50 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.8 billion) from 20 billion pounds. Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation decreased to 12.0 percent in December from 15.7 pct in November, the official statistics agency CAPMAS said.
Qatar's index rose 1.2 percent to hit its highest since March 2017, with 14 of its twenty stocks gaining.
The index was boosted by financial shares, with Industries Qatar adding 2.9 percent and Qatar Islamic Bank increasing 1.3 percent.
Qatar National Bank rose 0.8 percent. The largest bank by assets in the Middle East and Africa is raising a 2 billion euro ($2.3 billion) syndicated loan, according to LPC, a fixed income news service that is part of Refinitiv.
The Abu Dhabi index inched up 0.2 percent, also boosted by financials. First Abu Dhabi Bank, the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates, added 0.3 percent and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank was up 0.6 percent.
Dubai's index also gained 0.2 percent with Emirates NBD rising 0.6 percent and Ajman Bank increasing 2.6 percent.
Growth in the UAE's non-oil private sector fell in December to its slowest rate since October 2016, a survey showed.
The seasonally adjusted Emirates NBD UAE Purchasing Managers' Index, which covers manufacturing and services, dropped to 54.0 in December from 55.8 in November.