Egyptian stocks closed at a record high on Sunday to lead Middle Eastern bourses, extending a rally set off by a new deal with the International Monetary Fund.

Egypt - the most populous Arab country - secured an expanded $8 billion deal on Wednesday with the IMF hours after the central bank hiked rates by 600 basis points and unshackled its currency, letting it slide, in a push to stabilise the economy.

The country’s benchmark index finished 5.2% higher at 32,920 points, with most of its constituents rising, including top lender Commercial International Bank, which was up 6.8%.

UAE bourses gain on rate cut bets

In late February, Egypt signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to develop a prime stretch of its Mediterranean coast that would bring $35 billion of investments to the indebted country.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday that with tens of billions of dollars in new financing from the UAE and the IMF, moving to a flexible exchange rate would be possible. Saudi Arabia’s main index added 0.3%, helped by a 1.4% rise in Saudi Aramco after the oil giant hiked its dividend despite drop in profit.

Aramco declared a base dividend, paid regardless of results, of $20.3 billion for the fourth quarter. It expects to pay out $43.1 billion in performance-linked dividends this year, including $10.8 billion in the first quarter.

The base dividend was increased 4% year-on-year, and the performance-linked dividend was about 9% higher.The Qatari index was up 0.1%.

SAUDI ARABIA rose 0.3% to 12,619

QATAR added 0.5% to 10,235

EGYPT up 5.2% to 32,920

BAHRAIN was up 0.2% to 2,016

OMAN lost 0.4% to 4,760

KUWAIT gained 0.4% to 8,141