For the second week in a row, tech companies powered US markets’ with APPLE’s stellar earnings driving the markets to another set of all-time highs. The renewed expectations on OPEC extending its production cuts led oil prices to two year highs with crude reaching USD62.07 per barrel and WTI at USD55.64 per barrel.
For the regional markets, five out of the eight indices ended the week on a positive note while the remaining three were net losers. Egypt came on top with +2.6% gains over the week on the back of improving economic indicators and a recent IMF declaration that Egypt’s economic growth is driven by a “broad-based” recovery across industries.
Oman, Saudi, Bahrain and Qatar each advanced by +1.6%, +0.7%, +0.4% and +0.2% respectively. Kuwait was the worst performer among its peers with a -1.1% losses over the week, followed by UAE markets with Dubai losing -0.8% and Abu Dhabi -0.1%.
Going into the new week, positive news-flow focusing on Emaar Development IPO (which was covered fully on the first day of the offering), and strong oil prices should have a positive effect on trading activities, although the volatile regional geo-political dynamics can always throw up a surprise.
