April 5 (Reuters) - Most Gulf stock markets declined on Sunday as investors assessed escalating unrest in the region following Iranian strikes on petrochemical facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Geopolitical risks remained high after Washington announced the rescue of a second pilot whose plane crashed in Iran, and US President Donald Trump escalated his threats.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday that it had targeted petrochemical plants in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain, vowing to intensify strikes on US economic interests if civilian sites in Iran are targeted again.

In Qatar, the index fell 0.7 percent, with shares of Qatar National Bank, the country's largest bank, dropping 0.6 percent. Shares of Doha Bank plummeted 6.9 percent as they traded ex-dividend.

The Saudi benchmark index was little changed after volatile trading, and outperformed its regional peers as the kingdom worked to overcome the turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz.

A business survey released on Sunday showed that the Kingdom's non-oil private sector contracted in March for the first time since August 2020 as the Middle East conflict disrupted supply chains.

Brent crude rose nearly 8 percent at settlement on Thursday, the last trading day before the Easter holiday, due to concerns that oil supplies could remain disrupted for a long time after Trump said the United States would continue its attacks on Iran.

Three sources said that the OPEC+ alliance has agreed in principle to raise oil production quotas for May by 206,000 barrels per day, but the increase is likely to be symbolic as key members are still unable to raise production amid the US-Israeli trade war with Iran.

The main index in Kuwait fell 0.4 percent and the index in Bahrain declined 0.5 percent.

The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said that Iranian drone attacks on Kuwait on Sunday caused fires and inflicted "serious material damage" on a number of its operational facilities.

Outside the Gulf region, Egypt's blue-chip index rose 1.9 percent.

Egypt kept its key interest rates unchanged on Thursday, pausing a monetary easing cycle that began a year ago amid rising inflation risks driven by regional instability linked to the US-Israeli war on Iran and rising energy costs.