Mideast Stocks: Most Gulf bourses in black on Fed rate hopes

Mideast Stocks: Most Gulf bourses in black on Fed rate hopes

Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Sunday with Saudi Arabian shares snapping three sessions of losses, as soft U.S. inflation data fuelled hopes that the aggressive Federal Reserve rate stance might begin to ease.

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 pared some gains to close 0.3% higher, ending three sessions of losses, helped by a 3.1% jump in Saudi National Bank (SNB). SNB, the country's biggest lender, said on Friday 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.

Saudi National Bank has agreed to invest 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.59 billion) in the Swiss lender and is set to take a stake of up to 9.9%.

Elsewhere, oil giant Saudi Aramco gained 0.6%. Oil prices - a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - settled higher on Friday but fell week-on-week after health authorities in China eased some of the country's