Crude oil prices, a major driver of Gulf financial markets, rose more than 5% on Friday amid uncertainty over the US Federal Reserve’s future rate hike, as well as anticipation of the European Union’s ban on Russian oil and the possibility of China easing some restrictions related to… Covid.
The main index in the Saudi stock market rose 0.7%, supported by a 1.6% increase in the shares of the oil giant Aramco and 0.5% in the Al-Rajhi Bank.
And the Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, said on Friday that the Kingdom is studying the launch of a new metals and mining index on the stock exchange, at a time when it seeks to expand the economy’s resources away from hydrocarbons.
Shares of Saudi Arabian Mining Co. rose 1.5 percent.
In Qatar, the main index closed up 0.8 percent, supported by a 1.9 percent rise in Qatar National Bank, the largest Gulf bank.
Daniel Taqi El-Din, CEO of the Middle East and North Africa division at BD Suisse, said that the rise in the Qatari market is supported by the continued recovery of natural gas prices.
“Demand for the commodity could rise if temperatures drop with the approach of winter, which in the same end supports the stock market,” he added.
Qatar, which hosts the soccer World Cup this month, is one of the world’s largest exporters of natural gas and has made huge gains from rising global oil and gas prices.
Outside the Gulf region, Egypt’s main index fell 0.7 percent, dragged down by a 0.3 percent drop in Commercial International Bank, despite a rise in its quarterly profit.
Bahrain: The main index fell 0.1 percent to 1,861 points
Sultanate of Oman: The main index rose 0.4 percent to 4,418 points
Kuwait: The main index increased 0.95% to 8,320 points
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