Mideast Stocks: Saudi bourse gains as oil prices rise, Qatar extends losses
- Date: 23-Nov-2022
- Source: Zawya
- Sector:Financial Markets
- Country:Saudi Arabia
Mideast Stocks: Saudi bourse gains as oil prices rise, Qatar extends losses
Stock markets in the Gulf ended mixed on Tuesday with the Saudi index snapping a three-session losing streak as oil prices rose after the kingdom denied talks of an output increase.
Crude prices - a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - rose after top exporter Saudi Arabia said OPEC+ was sticking with output cuts and could take further steps to balance the market.
That offset pressure from global recession worries and concern about China's rising COVID-19 cases.
Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on Monday was also quoted by state news agency SPA as denying a Wall Street Journal report that said OPEC was considering boosting output.
The benchmark index in Saudi Arabia rose 0.3%, helped by a 3.6% gain in Banque Saudi Fransi and a 0.9% increase in oil giant Saudi Aramco.
In Qatar, the index fell 0.2%, extending losses for a sixth consecutive session and hit by a 2% fall in Qatar Islamic Bank.
Qatari stocks continued to see sharp decreases while natural gas prices remained highly volatile, Robert Woolfe, COO at Emporium Capital, said.
Meanwhile, QatarEnergy has signed a 27-year deal to supply China's Sinopec with liquefied natural gas in the longest such LNG agreement to date, as volatility drives