Abu Dhabi, UAE – Most major stock markets in the Gulf region saw a significant decline in early trading on Tuesday. The primary reason was the drop in crude oil prices, as concerns about oversupply and weak global demand outweighed the impact of escalating geopolitical tensions.
This decline followed signals from the United States about the possibility of selling off Venezuelan oil reserves. This increased selling pressure in energy markets, a key driver for Gulf stock markets.
Performance of Gulf markets
The performance of regional indices was mixed, with a clear downward trend. The results were as follows:
Dubai Financial Market: The index fell by 0.3%. Shares of Salik (the toll road operator) lost 0.6%, and shares of Emirates NBD Bank declined by 0.5%.
Abu Dhabi Market: Bucked the regional trend, with the index rising by 0.2% in early trading.
The Saudi market: The main index fell by 0.1%. This was directly affected by a 0.6% decline in shares of oil giant Saudi Aramco. Al Rajhi Bank shares also fell by 0.1%.
Qatar Stock Exchange: The Qatari index fell by 0.2%, with Qatar Islamic Bank shares declining by 0.5%.
Impact of US monetary policy
Gulf markets are cautiously awaiting developments in Washington, where reports suggest that US President Donald Trump may announce a new Federal Reserve chairman in January.
Trump recently hinted that the next Fed chair would be a strong supporter of extremely low interest rates. This reinforced market expectations of two rate cuts next year.
