OREANDA-NEWS. March 10, 2015. Gulf equity markets may stay generally negative and sluggish on Sunday after oil's fresh slide on US interest rate concerns and also because of a lack of positive corporate news.

Brent crude fell 1.2 percent to \\$59.73 a barrel on Friday and posted its biggest weekly loss since January, as a resurgent dollar and fear of a US rate hike diverted attention from the shrinking number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States.

The dollar rocketed to 11-year highs against a basket of currencies after the US government reported the US jobless rate fell to 6-1/2-year lows, which some analysts think may trigger an interest rate hike in June.

Such a hike could slightly slow down economic growth in the Gulf, where most currencies are pegged to the dollar and central banks generally follow in the Fed's footsteps.

News flow in the region has been thin. Egypt's housing minister said on Thursday that talks with Dubai builder Arabtec were continuing and that he hoped to reach a final deal on a plan to build a million homes before a March 13-15 investment conference in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Arabtec shares fell 7.9 percent last week as it became clear the \\$40 billion project was stalled again.

The stock may remain volatile until the issue is resolved.

Shares in financial institutions in Oman may come under pressure after Bank Sohar and Taageer Finance said the sultanate's central bank had advised them to cut cash dividends.

Sohar said that it had revised its proposed cash payout to 4 percent from 6 percent, while increasing its bonus share issue to 6 percent from 4 percent. Taageer said in a separate statement it had been advised to cut the dividend to 10 percent from 15 percent.

In Saudi Arabia, telecommunications firm Mobily may extend gains after surging its daily 10 percent limit in the last session on hopes that the company will recover and avoid a debt crisis after its shock earnings restatements.

On global markets, US equities fell on Friday after the US jobs report, while European stocks inched up ahead of the European Central Bank's bond-purchase stimulus that begins on Monday.