Saudi Arabia gains as most Gulf markets collapse due to low oil prices.

Dec. 3 (Reuters) - In reaction to the decline in oil prices on Friday, the majority of Gulf stock markets closed lower on Sunday; however, the Saudi index defied the trend and closed higher.

Oil prices, which are a major driver of the Gulf's financial markets, fell more than 2% on Friday as a result of investor skepticism regarding the extent of supply cuts by OPEC+ and worries about a slowdown in global manufacturing.

On Thursday, members of OPEC+ reached a decision to remove about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil from the world market in the first quarter of 2019. This amount includes the rollover of Saudi Arabia's and Russia's current voluntary cuts of 1.3 million bpd.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QISB.QA) saw a 0.6% decline, while the benchmark (.QSI) in Qatar eased by 0.1%.

The benchmark index for Saudi Arabia (.TASI) increased 0.4%, led by increases of 5.4% and 0.5% for Arabian Pipes Co (2200.SE) and 0.5% for oil major Saudi Aramco (2222.SE).

Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell stated on Friday that the risks of raising interest rates too high and slowing down the economy too much have "more balanced" against the risks of not raising rates enough to keep inflation under control.

Since the majority of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) currencies are fixed to the US dollar, Fed decisions typically influence the GCC's monetary policy.

Outside the Gulf, Commercial International Bank (COMI.CA) fell 2% and Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) lost 0.7%.

According to central bank data, Egypt's deficit in net foreign assets increased by 10.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($340.36 million) in October, reaching a negative 839.2 billion pounds. This increase was primarily due to an increase in central bank liabilities.