Most stock markets in the Gulf ended lower on Sunday as investors focus in on the prospects of more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes as the US closes in on a deal to raise its debt ceiling.

Most Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi, have their currencies pegged to the dollar and generally follow the Fed’s policy moves, exposing the region relatively directly to any monetary tightening there.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index lost 0.4%, with Al Rajhi Bank declining 1% and Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services finishing 1.4% lower.

UAE stocks rise as oil prices rise on US debt deal optimism

However, oil giant Saudi Aramco added 0.2%.

Prices of oil - a key catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets - ticked up on Friday as US officials appeared close to striking a debt-ceiling deal, and as the market weighed conflicting messages about oil supply from Russia and Saudi Arabia ahead of the next OPEC+ policy meeting.

In Qatar, the index eased 0.3%, hit by a 2.6% slide in telecoms firm Ooredoo.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index gained 0.5%, led by an 11.3% jump in Edita Food Industries.

On the other hand, Egypt has deferred payments for its large wheat purchases, in some cases by months, according to a government official and traders, as the country grapples with a shortage of hard currency.

Egypt is one of the world’s biggest wheat importers and uses the purchases to make heavily subsidised bread available to tens of millions of people. Any changes to its system of subsidies are politically very sensitive.

SAUDI ARABIA fell 0.4% to 11,138

QATAR dropped 0.3% to 10,426

EGYPT rose 0.5% to 17,131

BAHRAIN eased 0.1% to 1,961

OMAN lost 0.2% to 4,630

KUWAIT added 0.6% to 7,508