 Sources QNB weighs on Qatar By Maqsood Alam June 25 Reuters - Most Gulf stock markets fell on Thursday as the numberof coronavirus cases across the region climbed, with Saudis index the exceptionas banking stocks lifted it to a slightly higher close. The number of novel coronavirus cases in the six Gulf Arab states hasdoubled in a month to more than 400,000, as the regions two biggest economiesthis week fully lifted curfews imposed to combat the infection. Saudi Arabias benchmark index was up 0.3. Samba Financial GroupSamba closed 4.1 higher before it and National Commercial BankNCB, the countrys largest lender, asked the stock exchange tosuspend trading for one session ahead of a material announcement. Citing sources, Reuters reported that the lenders are in early talks about amerger. NCB, shares of which closed flat on Thursday, abandoned a plan to merge withRiyad Bank in December. Riyad Bank closed 3.4higher. Dubais main share index lost 0.6, weighed down by a 1.1 fall inEmirates NBD Bank and a 0.7 drop in blue-chip developer EmaarProperties. Emirates NBD, Dubais largest lender, began cutting hundreds of jobs thisweek after the coronavirus crisis accelerated planned lay-offs, Reutersreported, citing three sources. Although the full scale of the redundancies was not immediately clear, onesource estimated Emirates NBD was cutting some 10 of its staff, equivalent toaround 800 people. In Abu Dhabi the index retreated 1, with First Abu Dhabi Bank down 1.6. The Qatari index eased 0.4, hurt by a 1.6 decline in the Gulfslargest lender Qatar National Bank. Fitch Ratings on Wednesday said that Qatars banks are at risk of volatileexternal funding conditions. In Egypt, the index was down 1.3 with most of its constituentsfalling. Commercial International Bank Egypt led the losers with adrop of 2. SAUDI ARABIA gained 0.3 to 7,232 points ABU DHABI declined 1 to 4,286 points DUBAI fell 0.6 to 2,087 points QATAR eased 0.4 to 9,185 points EGYPT down 1.3 to 10,891 points BAHRAIN slipped 0.1 to 1,279 points OMAN was flat at 3,526 points KUWAIT lost 0.2 at 5,657 points Reporting by Maqsood Alam in Bengaluru 