Translated by Ingy Ashraf,
Most the stock markets in the gulf as well as in Egypt finished the trading day higher on Sunday. The rate of US retail sales were down which in turn fuelled expectations of a cut to interest rate rates by the Federal Reserve the central bank in the US.
Besides, the US Census Bureau has stated that last month consumer spending had diminished by 0.8%, and this is the biggest decline since March. According to the poll that was conducted by Reuters, several economists forecasted a 0.1 percent drop.
The Arab countries’ stock markets
The majority of the currencies in the Gulf Cooperation Council being dollar-pegged means that these countries follow the activities of the US central bank with special focus.
Today’s trading at The Egyptian Stock Exchange brought its market capitalization to 2,061.422 trillion EGP which is 1.12% up from the starting session of this week and with 20.3 billion EGP value of listed stocks.
The Saudi index increased 0.1% to close at its highest level since August 2022, which was buoyed by a 5.7% appreciation of the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia’ share price.
A 10 percent penetration in the Kingdom’s market was recorded by the company after the announcement of its annual net profits, which doubled the daily high.
A 0.6% rise was recorded for the Qatari index, led by a 2.4% increase in share price of the Qatar National Bank, the Gulf major bank. Shares in Ooredoo closed 2.9% higher on Qatar Telecom.
Oil prices rose towards the close as Iran-US tensions in the Middle East shone a glaring spotlight on the IEA’s call that demand was declining. Outside the Gulf region, Egypt’s blue-chip index rose 0.7%. the company’s share price increased by 5.6% .
