UAE markets buoyed by rebound in oil price

09/08/2016 08:30 AST

Arabian Gulf stocks edged up in trading on Monday as they continued to be buoyed by a rebound in global oil prices.

Brent crude rose 1.1 per cent in trading by the time most regional bourses closed. The increase put the price of oil at US$44.75 a barrel, 7 per cent higher than last Tuesday when it stood at a four-month low of $41.80.

Last week analysts at both Citigroup and Bank of America Merrill Lynch said they expected oil prices to start to recover again after a global supply glut forced prices down to their lowest level since April.

Unsurprisingly, Gulf petrochemicals companies were among the biggest gainers but other GCC equities, especially those linked to governments, benefited from the bounce in energy prices, as income from crude sales typically funds public spending in the region.

The Kuwait Stock Exchange Index was up 0.4 per cent to close at 5,516.08, its highest level since January. It was led by big gains for the country’s Oula Fuel Marketing Company, which rose 8.7 per cent.

Qatar led the Gulf indexes, rising 1.2 per cent to close at 10,920.29. Vodafone Qatar was the biggest gainer on the index, rising 6 per cent to 12.37 Qatari riyals. Abu Dhabi’s ADX edged up by less than 0.1 per cent in trading to close at 4,548.78, its fourth day of slight gains in a row. Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) was the biggest gainer, climbing 8 per cent in trading to close at 54 fils.

But in Dubai, where oil accounts for just 4 per cent of government revenue, the Dubai Financial Market General Index closed down 0.01 per cent at 3,510.95.

The National