INDEX : *SAUDI-EGYPT-QATAR-KUWAIT-OMAN-BAHRAIN*

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's stock market closed on Sunday at its highest level since early November amid solid gains by a number of blue chips, while Egypt's bourse closed in negative territory, dragged down by Global Telecom's huge losses.

United Arab Emirates markets were closed for a public holiday while other Gulf markets were mixed in lacklustre trade.

The Saudi index jumped 1.8 percent, recording its highest level since Nov 4, as AI Rajhi Bank rose 2.5 percent, and petrochemicals giant SABIC added 2.2 percent.

Alinma Bank surged 6.2 6.2 percent after proposing a 1.0 riyals [$0.26] dividend for 2018, up from 0.8 riyal for 2017.

Out of 180 Saudi stocks traded, 162 advanced and only 13 declined.

In Egypt, the main index fell 1.3 percent amid a wide sell off with only two of its 30 stocks advancing. Commercial International Bank fell 1.9 percent.

Global Telecom, one of the most heavily traded stocks in the world. was the main drag, plummeting  12.4 percent after its board approved increasing issue capital by 11.18 billion pounds  [$625.5 million] through issuing 19.28 billion new shares.

In Qatar, the index lost 0.5 percent on big declines by banking stocks, with losers outnumbering gainers by 23 to 17.

Qatar National Bank lost 1.3 percent and Qatar Islamic Bank fell 1.6 percent, Qatar Commercial Bank went down 2.1 percent and Masraf AI Rayan lost 1.1 percent.

Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain were flat. [Reuters]