march 9 reuters  equity markets in the gulf opened mixed on thursday after the us federal reserve chairs hawkish stance on higher and faster interest rates dampened investor sentiment aggressive rate hikes may pose challenges for the gulf economy as most gulf cooperation council gcc countries have their currencies pegged to the dollar and generally follow the feds policy moves exposing them to any monetary tightening gulf markets which are highly sensitive to changes in oil prices were mostly trading on the back foot after tepid growth data from china and on worries that higher interest rates in the united states could slow global economic growth squeezing oil demand in abu dhabi the benchmark index ftfadgi slipped 07 its third straight day of decline dragged down by a 29 slide in top lender first abu dhabi bank fabad and 06 retreat in conglomerate international holding company ihcad dubais main share index dfmgi also extended losses for a third consecutive session to open slightly lower at 01 led by a 05 retreat in bluechip developer emaar properties emardu and a 21 fall in telecoms operator emirates integrated telecommunications dudu the index was boosted by gains in finiancial and real estate stocks with al rajhi bank 1120se increasing 11 and real estate developer retal urban development 4322se advancing 05 state oil giant saudi aramco 2222se which will report its annual earnings on sunday was down 03 among other stocks thimar development holding 4160se surged nearly 10 after riyadhs commercial court approved to amend the companys financial reorganization proposal meanwhile saudi arabias economy grew 55 yearonyear in the fourth quarter of 2022 slightly more than the 54 estimate as nonoil activity boosted overall growth the qatari benchmark index qsi also rose 03 its seventh positive session in a row helped by banking stocks including qatar islamic bank qisbqa and commercial bank combqa which gained 2 and 1 respectively reporting by shamsuddin mohd in bengaluru editing by sonia cheema