Most Gulf stock markets ended lower on Monday after a top U.S. central banker warned investors not to get carried away over one inflation number, while falling oil prices compounded concerns.
The U.S. Federal Reserve may consider slowing the pace of rate increases at its next meeting, but that should not be seen as a “softening” of its battle against inflation, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Sunday.
Most Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have their currencies pegged to the dollar and generally follow the Fed’s policy moves, exposing the region to a direct impact from monetary tightening there.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index fell 0.4%, hit by a 3% slide in the country’s biggest lender Saudi National Bank (SNB).
SNB rose 2.9% in the previous session after saying it had not come across any information that might raise concerns over the governance of Credit Suisse and was supportive of the transformation plan announced by the bank on Oct. 27.
The lender has agreed to invest 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.59 billion) in the Swiss bank and is set to take a stake of up to 9.9%.
Most Gulf bourses in black on Fed rate hopes
Since the October announcement, SNB has lost 39.94 billion riyals ($10.63 billion) from its market value.
Elsewhere, stock exchange operator and owner Saudi Tadawul Group’s shares declined more than 6%, extending losses from the previous session.
The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund sold a 10% stake in the firm through a secondary share offering, raising 2.3 billion riyals ($612 million). The fund sold 12 million shares through an accelerated bookbuild offering at 191 riyals each, a 9% discount to Thursday’s closing price.
Dubai’s main share index lost 0.4%, with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties ahead of its third-quarter earnings announcement.
The Dubai stock market recorded some volatility after two weeks of increases and the market was also reacting to some mixed company earnings, said Wael Makarem, Senior Market Strategist MENA at Exness.
In Abu Dhabi, the index eased 0.1%.
The Qatari index finished 0.2% lower, as most of the stocks on the index including petrochemical maker Industries Qatar were in negative territory.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index gained 1.3%, with top lender Commercial International Bank rising 2.3%.
======================================== SAUDI ARABIA fell 0.4% to 11,197 ABU DHABI lost 0.1% to 10,620 DUBAI down 0.4% to 3,394 QATAR dropped 0.2% to 12,586 EGYPT rose 1.3% to 12,136 BAHRAIN eased 0.1% to 1,865 OMAN down 0.3% to 4,461 KUWAIT added 0.2% to 8,578========================================