Mideast Stocks: Saudi shares gain on rising oil; Dubai extends losses

Mideast Stocks: Saudi shares gain on rising oil; Dubai extends losses

Saudi Arabian stocks rose in early trade on Tuesday, and were on track to snap three sessions of losses, as oil prices gained, while the Dubai index fell for a seventh consecutive session.

Crude prices — a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets — jumped, buoyed by hopes that China would relax its COVID-19 controls after rare protests against the country's zero-COVID strategy over the weekend in big Chinese cities.

The street protests that erupted in cities across China over the weekend were a referendum against President Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy and the strongest public defiance during his political career, China analysts said.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index gained 0.5%, bolstered by a 2.3% jump in oil giant Saudi Aramco and a 1.7% increase in Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services.

Separately, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced on Monday plans to transform Riyadh airport into a massive aviation hub with six parallel runways and designed to accommodate up to 120 million travellers by 2030, state news agency SPA reported.

In Qatar, the index advanced 1%, as most of the stocks on the index were in positive territory including the Gulf's biggest lender Qatar National Bank.

Dubai's main share index, however, fell 0.2%, hit by a