Gulf stocks drop on dip in oil prices
Most Arabian Gulf stock markets fell yesterday, with Saudi Arabia marginally lower and Dubai sharply down, after oil prices retreated on comments by US President Donald Trump pressuring Opec not to go ahead with a supply cut.
Brent oil hovered near multimonth lows under $70 per barrel following a decline for a record 11th consecutive session amid softening demand, and after Mr Trump said he hoped there would be no oil output reductions.
Saudi Arabia’s main index was down 0.3 per cent at 7,751 points. Saudi Basic Industries lost 0.8 per cent, and Al Rajhi Bank fell 0.7 per cent. However, Medgulf rose 6.4 per cent to its highest in nearly three months and was the third most traded stock on the bourse after signing an insurance contract with Saudi Electricity.
In Dubai, the blue-chip index fell 1 per cent at 2,776 points, dragged down by a 2.8 per cent drop in banking heavyweight Emirates NBD.
Islamic Arab Insurance lost 5.1 per cent after posting a third-quarter loss compared with a year-ago profit. Union Properties was down 1 per cent after its loss widened in the third quarter.
The Abu Dhabi index inched 0.3 per cent higher, with First Abu Dhabi Bank gaining 0.7 per cent.
National Marine Dredging surged 14.7 per cent, a day after posting a two-fold jump in third-quarter profit.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, which soared more than 13 per cent to a two-and-a-half-year high on Monday after saying it would let foreigners buy its shares, retreated 1.7 per cent.
Egypt’s main index was 1 per cent lower at 13,544 points as Sidpec slipped 7.1 per cent, while Global Telecom fell 5.6 per cent. In Kuwait the index was up 0.1 per cent at 5,297 points. The Bahraini index was down 0.3 per cent at 1,305 points and in Oman the index was down 0.3 per cent.
Gold decreased 0.1 per cent to $1,199.31 an ounce, hitting the weakest in almost five weeks with its eighth consecutive decline.
Brent oil hovered near multi-month lows under $70 per barrel following a decline for a record 11th consecutive session