Stock markets in Dubai and Saudi rose on Thursday on rising oil prices as data showed a jump in refinery runs in China, although other major markets were subdued amid US Federal Reserve’s hawkish signals on interest rate hikes.

Crude prices — a key catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets — edged up on Thursday with Brent crude at $73.39 a barrel by 0750 GMT.

Oil refinery throughput in China, the world’s top crude importer in May rose 15.4% from a year earlier, data showed on Thursday, hitting its second highest total on record.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index rose 0.2%, lifted by gains in finance, health care and consumer staples sectors with Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services adding 1.6% and Almarai Company surging 7.3%.

Dubai’s benchmark stock index added 0.2%, supported by gains in most sectors, with Emaar Development rising 2% and the Gulf Navigation adding 2.6%.

The emirate’s largest lender Emirates NBD gained 0.7%.

In Qatar, the benchmark index fell 0.5%, with index heavyweight Qatar Islamic Bank dropping 0.8% and region’s largest lender Qatar National Bank sliding 1.7%.

Qatar, Dubai bourses rise on Fed rate pause optimism; Saudi retreats

In Abu Dhabi, the benchmark stock index lost 0.2%, weighed down by a 1.2% loss in Multiply Group and 0.6% drop in blue-chip developer Aldar Properties.

The United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender, First Abu Dhabi Bank slipped 0.8%.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday but signaled that borrowing costs may still need to rise by as much as half of a percentage point by the end of this year.

Currencies in most Gulf Cooperation Council countries are pegged to the dollar and any monetary policy change in the United States is usually mimicked by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.