Qatar stock market ends lower

DUBAI: Qatar’s stock market ended lower on Sunday as comments from two US Federal Reserve officials curtailed investor optimism that the central bank is nearing the end of its aggressive interest rate hikes.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said at an economics conference that core inflation “is not coming down like I thought it would,” which probably would require more tightening.

Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the dollar and any monetary policy change in the United States is usually mimicked by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The Qatari Stock index dropped 0.1%, extending its losses to a second session with Gulf’s biggest lender Qatar National Bank falling 0.2% and Qatar Islamic Bank shedding 1.1%.