Shares in Saudi Arabia rose in early trading on Tuesday and were on track to snap three sessions of losses, as oil prices rose, while Dubai’s index fell for a seventh straight session.
Crude oil prices, a key catalyst for Gulf financial markets, jumped on hopes that China would relax its COVID-19 controls after rare protests against the country’s zero-Covid strategy over the weekend of the week in major 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 challenge of his political career, Chinese analysts said.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index gained 0.5%, boosted by a 2.3% rise in oil giant Saudi Aramco and a 1.7% rise in Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services .
Separately, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans on Monday to transform Riyadh airport into a major aviation hub with six parallel runways designed to accommodate up to 120 million travelers by 2030, report the state news agency SPA.
In Qatar, the index advanced 1% as most shares in the index were in positive territory, including top Gulf lender Qatar National Bank.
Dubai’s main share index, however, fell 0.2%, hit by a 1.8% drop in Dubai Investments.
In Abu Dhabi, the index was down 0.2%.
Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC board on Monday approved plans to bring forward the expansion of the company’s five million barrels per day oil production capacity to 2027 from the previous target of 2030, to meet the increase in global energy demand.
(Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bangalore; Editing by Uttaresh.V)