feb 28 reuters  gulf stock markets opened mixed on tuesday as strong us economic data fuelled concerns of further interest rate hikes by the us federal reserve to tame high inflation while saudi arabias index fell on a slew of poor earnings data on monday showed us core capital goods orders accelerated in january beating forecasts while contracts to buy previously owned us homes rose the most in more than 212 years in january mondays data comes after a hotterthanexpected personal consumption expenditure report on friday which reinforced expectations the fed will need to stay on its hawkish path for longer most gulf currencies are pegged to the us dollar while saudi arabia the united arab emirates and qatar usually mirror us monetary policy changes saudi arabias benchmark stock index tasi dropped 02 extending losses for an eighthconsecutive session the index was weighed down by a 38 dive in petrochemicals firm saudi basic industries corporation sabic 2010se sabic posted a 94 slump in its fourthquarter net profit to 029 billion riyals 7728 million compared to a 497 billion riyals profit a yearago annual net income attributable to shareholders for 2022 came in at 1653 billion riyals 440 billion down 28 from the previous year sahara international petrochemical sipchem 2310se also fell 07 after reporting slightly lower net profit of 360 billion riyals 95933 million in fiscal year 2022 compared to 359 billion riyals 95667 million a year ago among other stocks national industrializations tasnee 2060se annual profit halved to 6663 million riyals 17756 million dubais benchmark stock index dfmgi edged down 02 dragged down by properties and utilities stocks with bluechip developer emaar properties shedding 09 and tecom group tecomdu losing 17 in abu dhabi the benchmark stock index ftfadgi edged up 02 led by a 1 increase in united arab emirates biggest lender first abu dhabi bank fab fabad and a 12 hike in telecoms firm e eandad formerly known as emirates telecommunications the qatari stock index qsi edged up 02 supported by its industrial and financial stocks petrochemical maker industries qatar iqcdqa added 09 while qatar national bank qnbkqa the gulf largest lender was up 02 reporting by shamsuddin mohd in bengaluru editing by sharon singleton