Written by: Muhammad Manzar Hussain
(Reuters) – Most Gulf stock markets fell on Sunday after U.S. economic data and comments from Federal Reserve officials pointed to a slower pace of interest rate cuts.
Investors boosted bets on the Fed leaving interest rates unchanged at its December meeting and scaling back expectations for an easing in 2025.
The Fed’s decisions have a significant impact on monetary policy in the Gulf as most of the region’s currencies are pegged to the US dollar.
Qatar’s benchmark index fell 0.4 percent, with nearly all its components down, led by the finance, communications and energy sectors.
The region’s biggest lender Qatar National Bank fell 1.4% and Qatar Navigation shed 1.1%.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index ended three sessions of losses, rising 0.2 percent on gains in the IT, utilities, real estate, industrials, healthcare and insurance sectors.
Med Gulf (Tadawul:) rose 10 percent for its biggest daily gain in more than six months. The insurer said in a statement to the Saudi Exchange that it had received a circular from the Insurance Authority on a new mechanism for allocating reinsurance premiums in the local market.
All bar two insurance stocks closed higher, with Al Rajhi Company for Cooperative Insurance up 3.9% and Saudi Reinsurance up 6.9%.
Saudi Re said in a statement that the new mechanism will help increase Saudi reinsurance revenue by more than 5 percent from 2023.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index reversed the previous session’s gain with a 0.7% decline, with most sectors in the red. Telecom (BCBA: ) Egypt lost 2.6 percent on Thursday after reporting a 13 percent drop in quarterly net profit.
However, Johanna Food posted a 3.7% rise in third-quarter net profit after a nearly 200% rise.
Saudi Arabia rose 0.2 percent to 11,812.
Kuwait was up 0.2 percent at 7,849.
Qatar fell 0.4 percent to 10,411
Egypt fell 0.7 percent to 31,252
Bahrain closed flat at 2,053.
Oman fell 0.4 percent to 4,626
