Dubai's bourse edged lower in early trade with volumes focused in small-caps as investors avoid risky bets. The index traded 0.3 per cent lower at 1,500 points, trimming its July gains to 3.4 per cent.

Telecom operator du was the main drag, trading 1.9 percent lower. Contractor Arabtec shed one per cent. Small-cap mortgage lender Tamweel gained 2.3 per cent, accounting for nearly half of all shares traded.

Meanwhile the Abu Dhabi's index ticked up 0.07 per cent.

Elsewhere, Kuwait's bourse dipped 0.1 per cent to 5,855 points, 66 basis points away from late-June's five-month low.

Political unrest continued to weigh on the market. It's emir on Thursday asked outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah to form a new government, state news agency Kuna said, in a move that may ease a political crisis.

According to experts, Gulf markets have mixed cues on Sunday, with global equities downbeat after disappointing US jobs numbers, while Saudi Arabia's bourse rose on Saturday as the kingdom's earnings season kicked off.

The US Labour Department reported that employers created only 80,000 jobs in June, far fewer than needed to bring down the 8.2 per cent unemployment rate and adding to evidence that Europe's debt crisis was weighing on global growth.

"Today should be cautious trading in most of our markets," says Amer Khan, fund manager, Shuaa Asset Management. "It's summer and earnings are still a few weeks away, except for Saudi Arabia (and Qatar). I wouldn't expect people to be buying in size."

In the Saudi kingdom, focus has shifted to company results, with the main share index closing 0.4 percent higher on Saturday.-Reuters