Most Gulf stock markets rose on Tuesday, supported by banking shares, following a rebound in oil prices on hopes for new output curbs from OPEC and its allies.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are considering cutting crude output by 500,000 barrels per day, as demand shrinks because of the coronavirus outbreak in China, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.
Brent crude stood at $54.88 a barrel by 1135 GMT, up 43 cents, or nearly 0.8%.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index rose 0.3%. Al Rajhi Bank added 0.8% and Banque Saudi Fransi 2.8%. Bank Aljazira closed up 1.9% after it posted a
rise in annual profit that it attributed to lower zakat charges.
State-owned Saudi Aramco fell 0.3% to 33.85 riyals ($9.02).
The Abu Dhabi index rose 0.4% as First Abu Dhabi Bank gained 0.7%. Abu Dhabi National Energy Company soared 14.9%, extending the previous session's gains.
Abu Dhabi Power Corporation (ADPower) is planning to take control of the energy firm in an asset swap that would create a combined utility with assets worth a total of about 200 billion dirhams ($54.45 billion).
Nasdaq-Dubai listed port operator DP World added 0.9% after it reported growth in 2019 volume, handling 71 million twenty-foot equivalent units.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index was up 0.3%, driven by a 0.3% gain in Commercial International Bank as it reported an increase in fourth-quarter profit. It also proposed a cash dividend of 1.25 Egyptian pounds ($0.0794) per share for 2019.
Qatar's index edged up 0.2%. Qatar National Bank, the Gulf's largest bank, gained 1.7%. Mesaieed Petrochemical was up 2%.
In Dubai, the index slipped 0.1%, hurt by a 1.2% drop in developer Emaar Properties and a 0.7% drop in Emirates NBD Bank. However, Dubai Investments ended 2.3% higher following a higher annual profit.
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