Saudi shares opened lower on Saturday, dragged by declines in all sectors after a sharp drop in oil prices. The all-share index dropped 0.4 per cent and the petrochemical index lost 0.7 per cent.

Oil prices had slumped on Friday on renewed global economic worries, pushing back Brent more than 10 per cent this month for its biggest quarterly decline in five quarters.

Heavyweight Saudi Basic Industries (Sabic) shed 1.4 per ent in early trading while Saudi Kayan Petrochemical added 1.5 per cent after announcing the start of commercial output at most of its plants.

Shares in Kingdom Holding and Zain Saudi  drop 2 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, after a $950 million bid for 25 percent stake in Zain Saudi was dropped by Kingdom Holding and Batelco.-Reuters