Global equity markets staged a recovery during the previous week on the back of continued optimism over progress made towards Phase 1 trade deal between the US and China. Furthermore, the US market recorded another all-time high during the end of the previous week, which was supported by decline in the number of people applying for first-time benefits and rise in personal spending.
The economic data indicates healthy growth in sales during the upcoming holiday season, which is likely to boost the overall activity in US economy. Brent crude oil prices were up 1.51% during the week, as reports raised doubts over the much-anticipated approval of OPEC’s production-cut extension next week.
For the regional markets, 6 out of the 8 indexes closed in red during the week while 2 closed in green. Saudi Arabia was the worst performing index regionally with losses of 2.52%, followed by losses of 1.74% in Egypt; while Bahrain led the region with gains of 1.41%, followed by 0.26% in Kuwait.
Going forward, investors will remain cautious due to uncertainty over the trade deal talks ahead of the upcoming holiday season, which might lead to consolidation with the global equity markets. For the regional markets, investors will be closely following the upcoming OPEC+ meeting to gauge the trajectory of oil prices to accordingly position themselves for 2020.
| Indexes | Last | WTD (%) | MTD (%) | YTD (%) | |
| Dubai (DFMGI) | ▼ | 2,678.70 | -0.21% | -2.48% | 5.89% |
| Abu Dhabi (ADSMI) | ▼ | 5,030.76 | -0.22% | -1.51% | 2.35% |
| Saudi (SASEIDX) | ▼ | 7,859.06 | -2.52% | 1.48% | 0.41% |
| Kuwait (KWSE) | ▲ | 4,767.01 | 0.26% | 0.19% | 0.60% |
| Egypt (EGX30) | ▼ | 13,849.46 | -1.74% | -4.87% | 6.24% |
| Bahrain (BHSEIDX) | ▲ | 1,526.95 | 1.41% | 0.24% | 14.18% |
| Oman (MSM30) | ▼ | 4,064.14 | -0.45% | 1.61% | -6.00% |
| Commodities | Value | WTD (%) | MTD (%) | YTD (%) | |
| Gold (s/OZ) | ▲ | 1466.18 | 0.28% | -3.10% | 14.30% |
| Silver ($/Oz) | ▼ | 16.98 | -0.14% | -6.32% | 9.69% |
| WTI ($/bbl) | ▼ | 55.17 | -4.50% | 1.83% | 21.49% |
| Natural Gas | ▼ | 2.28 | -14.41% | -13.37% | -22.41% |
| OPEC Oil ($/bl) | ▼ | 62.43 | -1.51% | 3.65% | 16.04% |
| Copper ($/MT) | ▲ | 5896.06 | 1.25% | 1.93% | -2.28% |
| Aluminium ($/MT) | ▲ | 1759.81 | 1.09% | 0.96% | -4.51% |
| FX Rates | Value | WTD (%) | MTD (%) | YTD (%) | |
| USD/AED | ▲ | 3.6728 | 0.00% | 0.01% | 0.00% |
| USD/SAR | ▼ | 3.7498 | -0.01% | -0.01% | -0.03% |
| USD/EGP | ▲ | 16.07 | 0.06% | -0.12% | -10.02% |
| USD/EUR | ▲ | 0.9075 | 0.07% | 1.23% | 4.11% |
| USD/JPY | ▲ | 109.51 | 0.80% | 1.38% | -0.05% |
