Most major Gulf stock indexes closed in lower today, Thursday, after the minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting sent messages of a tendency to tighten monetary policy, as the Saudi market reversed its losses earlier in the session to close unchanged, and the index Egyptian respectively extended its gains for the sixth day on Monday.
Fed meeting minutes released last night showed that while officials agreed the central bank should slow the pace of interest rate hikes, they were focused on containing inflation.
The Saudi stock index stabilized at the close as losses in energy and financial stocks were offset by gains in real estate stocks.
Saudi Aramco stock, which weighs on the index, fell 0.5%, while Rital Urban Development Company’s share rose about 1%.
In Abu Dhabi, the main index fell 0.3%, with the stock of First Abu Dhabi Bank, the largest bank in the country, falling 0.6%, and the share of Fertilizer Industry fell by 2.4%.
Mubadala Investment Company, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, and UAE-based Alpha Abu Dhabi Holding Company today announced the formation of a joint venture to invest in private credit opportunities with an investment of up to nine billion dirhams ($2.45 billion). Alpha Abu Dhabi fell 0.6%.
On the other hand, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said today that it will allocate 55 billion dirhams to boost investment in low-carbon solutions, new energy and technologies to reduce emissions in its operations by 2030.
Dubai’s major stock index fell 0.4%, led by losses in real estate and financials, as Emaar Properties lost 1.4% and Emirates NBD Bank fell 0.4%.
The benchmark stock index in Qatar jumped 2.8% to end the week in rise of 4.3%.
Outside the Gulf region, the leading stock index in Egypt closed in up 2.9%, to the highest level since August 2018, and Commercial International Bank’s share of Egypt jumped 2.5%.
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