Google News
On Sunday, a basket of major gulf stock indices had ended up the session in an affirmative territory, as China reopening appears to have heightened up the hopes of a recovery in oil demands. Apart from that, an upbeat growth forecast from China ahead of its Lunar New Year holidays had helped cheer up the investors’ morale.
On top of that, the Saudi-led 14-member OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) had projected that the oil demand in China, the world’s largest oil importer, would highly likely to step up by a breakneck pace this year, while a report from IEA (International Energy Agency) had echoed a similar tone, eventually bolstering Gulf investors’ confidence significantly as conventionally, crude oil prices’ and demands are key indicators to Mideast market participants’ morale.
Apart from that, oil ends last week over 2.0 per cent higher, feathering up the Gulf bourses further while undermining the risks of a recession in the EU and the US.
Gulf bourses gain on China demand optimism
Citing statistics, in the day’s Gulf market wind-down, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index added 0.4 per cent with the shares’ prices of luxury real estate developer Retal Urban Development adding 1.5 per cent.
Besides, the Kingdom’s state-backed oil giant Aramco added 0.8 per cent, while the world’s largest Islamic bank by market cap, Al Rajhi Bank, jumped 0.5 per cent. In tandem, as of Friday’s Gulf market round-off, Abu Dhabi’s main index fell 0.04 per cent, extending losses for a third straight session in a row, while Dubai inched 0.02 per cent lower with state-backed Dubai Electricity and Water Authority falling 1.2 per cent.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index rose by 0.3 per cent following a 10.5 per cent climb in the shares’ prices of Housing and Development Bank. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Qatar edged 0.9 per cent higher with Qatar National Bank rising 2.3 per cent and Bahrain fell by 0.1 per cent, while Omani bourse shrugged off 0.6 per cent and Kuwait added 0.2 per cent.