OPEC+ cuts: UAE, Saudi markets feel the bounce, will US investors share the sentiment

OPEC+ cuts: UAE, Saudi markets feel the bounce, will US investors share the sentiment

Dubai: Investors on the UAE and Saudi stock markets sure didn’t wait long to express what they thought of the surprise move by OPEC+ that will cut out another 1.16 million barrels a day of oil from the markets beginning May. The ADX was up nearly 0.5 per cent on sizeable volumes by around 1.40 GST, while on DFM, a similar mood led the index to be up by 0.742. On the Saudi Tadawul, the flagship index was driving up a 1.4 per cent gain through the morning hours, as investors basked in oil finding its feet past the $80 a barrel mark. Oil’s had a difficult ride these past few weeks, as markets fixated on what was happening to the banking sector and what the US Federal Reserve was doing to its rate hike plans as a result. The benchmark Brent crude price was off 7.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2023. But on Sunday, the OPEC+ oil producers brought the attention back to oil – and to stunning effect at that, with a surprise out-of-turn production cut. Saudi Arabia would do so by 500,000 barrels a day, while the UAE will take out 144,000 barrels a