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On Sunday, a basket of major Mideast bourses had wrapped up the session modestly higher, mostly riding on the back of a strong pick-up in crude oil futures’ prices, as Saudi’s benchmark index had spiked to a multi-year peak.
In point of fact, in the day’s decent rally in major Gulf bourses was almost entirely led by a maverick upswing in Saudi’s major index, as the Kingdom had decided to lift pandemic restrictions from October 17 following an encouraging dip in daily cases alongside an acceleration in mass-scale pandemic vaccination campaigns.
Besides, Saudi Arabia had lifted social distancing measures, while the Kingdom also would allow full-capacity attendance at the country’s two major Mosques in Medina and Mecca for the people who are fully vaccinated against the pandemic pathogen.
On top of that, a multi-year peak crude oil futures’ prices, a key catalyst for Gulf bourses, had added to further optimism with Brent hitting a $85 per barrel for the first time since 2018.
Gulf bourses end higher as Saudi hits multi-year peak
Citing statistics, in the day’s Gulf market closing bell, Saudi’s benchmark index added 0.6 per cent, boosted up by a 5.8 per cent leapfrog in property developer Jabal Omar Development Co., while Saudi Aramco rose 0.3 per cent, closing in on a $2 trillion in market valuation.
Dubai’s main index gained 0.5 per cent with Dubai Islamic Bank advancing as much as 1.2 per cent and Dubai Investments mushrooming 1.8 per cent, while Abu Dhabi’s key index surged 0.3 per cent with telecom firm Etisalat and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank climbing 0.6 per cent and 2.0 per cent respectively.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index ended 1.5 per cent higher with a majority of the index’s 29 stocks edging higher. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Qatari benchmark gained 0.8 per cent with the country’s largest lender, Qatar National Bank, rising 1.8 per cent, while Qatar Islamic Bank advanced 1.2 per cent.