Markets in the United Arab Emirates remained largely unchanged amid lacklustre trading, as second-quarter earnings failed to inspire investors.

Dubai's index ended 0.03 lower at 1,512 points, while Abu Dhabi's bourse finished 0.06 lower at 2,546 points on Thursday.

Tabreed closed 1.6 per cent lower after the company said it will ask its board of directors to approve a reduction in the firm's share capital. National Bank of Abu Dhabi rose 1.3 per cent after Citigroup raised its rating to buy from hold.

Oman International Bank (OIB) plunges after reporting a 36-per cent drop in quarterly profit, but the country's other banks help lift the Muscat exchange.

OIB ends 4.2 per cent lower. The bank made a second-quarter net profit of 3.5 million rials.

"Lower total income, higher operating expenses and a significant rise in provisioning on sequential basis in the second-quarter, led to the plunge in OIB earnings, which is putting selling pressure on the stock," said Gunjan Gupta, head of research at Oman Arab Bank.

Bank Dhofar and National Bank of Oman gained 5.2 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively. The main index rose 0.5 per cent to 6,295 points.

"Based on our technical analysis, we expect the market will go down to 6,267 level," said Gupta.

Qatar's index gained 0.2 per cent to 7,030 points. Qatar Commercial Bank gained 1.2 per cent, its third consecutive rise. On Tuesday, the bank beat analysts' forecasts with a 23-per cent rise in quarterly profit.

"We view the quarterly loan growth positively after it had been stagnant for the previous four quarters," said Beltone in a note to clients.

The bank needs to work on improving its non-interest income to be able to boost its bottom line further," it added.

"We expect fee income to increase as the bank's loan book continues to grow, however we don't foresee significant improvement in the bank's investment income in the short term, given the fact that the bank had sold a large portion of its equity investments to the government of Qatar."

Kuwait's index fell 0.2 per cent to 6,655 points.-Reuters