Google News
On Sunday, a bucket of major Gulf stock indices closed out the session higher as a melt-down in US domestic demands amid a sky-scrapping inflation surge had spiked prospects of a less-hawkish US Fed at its January 31-Febrary 1 policy meet. In the matter of the fact, in the day’s gains in major Gulf bourses came forth despite a decline in Crude Oil futures’ prices on Friday, which is conventionally a key catalyst to Gulf investors’ morale. Nevertheless, strong demand of Russian crude oil alongside hopes of a China demand recovery coupled with a strong middle refining margin appeared to have bolstered market participants’ morale.
Gulf bourses end higher
Citing statistics, in the day’s Gulf market wind-down, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index jumped 0.2 per cent, largely supported by financial alongside energy stocks.
Saudi’s state-backed oil giant Aramco ended up the session 0.3 per cent higher, while the world’s largest Islamic bank by market cap, Al Rajhi Bank added 1.6 per cent. Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index surged as much as by 3.7 per cent, marking off its highest intra-session gain since November, as Telecom Egypt soared by 14.7 per cent, while Commercial International Bank Egypt gained 6.1 per cent.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Qatar’s main index added 0.4 per cent, as the Gulf’s largest lender Qatar Islamic Bank continued its rally with a gain of 0.9 per cent and Commercial Bank adding 2.6 per cent. On top of that, Bahrain added 0.1 per cent and Omani bourse rose by 0.2 per cent, Kuwait wrapped up the session 0.4 per cent higher.