All major Gulf stock markets traded lower on Tuesday with financial shares suffering the biggest losses across the region amid declining oil prices. Saudi Arabia led the declines as most of the kingdom's banks dropped.
Oil prices fell as hopes faded for a trade deal between the United States and China, after Washington blacklisted more Chinese companies. The two main benchmarks of crude oil fell 1.3% and 1.5% by 1035 GMT, after having risen almost 1% earlier in the day.
Saudi Arabia's index closed down 0.6% with Al Rjahi Bank and Samba Financial Group shedding 1.3% each. With Tuesday's decline, the index is now roughly flat for the year to date. It had gained more than 20% in the first four months of 2019 before joining the MSCI and FTSE emerging-market indexes, which helped attract billions of dollars from passive funds.
However, escalating trade tensions, volatile oil prices and growing geopolitical risks have weighed on the market since then and kept active emerging-market funds from investing in the kingdom. Active emerging-market funds have kept away because of high valuations and reputation risks, an analysis by Copley Fund Research showed.
Qatar's index slipped 0.3% with market heavyweight Qatar Islamic Bank dropping 2.1%. In Dubai, the index closed 0.2% lower after three consecutive days of gains. Dubai Islamic Bank fell 0.8% and Dubai Investments decreased 1.6%.
Abu Dhabi index inched down 0.1%. The United Arab Emirates' largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank lost 0.4%, and ADNOC Distribution
shed 2.6% as the fuel retailer traded ex-dividend. Outside of the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index fell 0.6% with 28 of its 30 stocks trading in the red and real estate shares acting as the biggest drag. Real estate investment firm Talat Mostafa slid 2.8%. Stock exchange data showed foreigners were net sellers of Egyptian stocks.
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