DUBAI: Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Sunday, buoyed by growing expectations of a US Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week.
Investors absorbed the latest US inflation data and adjusted their bets, strengthening expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut at the December 9-10 policy meeting.
US consumer spending rose only modestly in September, following three months of robust growth, pointing to waning economic momentum late in the third quarter as a sluggish job market and elevated living costs restrained household demand.
Traders are now assigning an 87 percent probability, based on CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, to a 25-basis-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index edged 0.1 percent higher, helped by a 2.6 percent rise in Riyad Bank. Oil prices rose nearly 1 percent on Friday to a two-week high, supported by expectations of a US rate cut next week and geopolitical risks that could curb supplies from Russia and Venezuela.
In Qatar, the index, however, eased 0.1 percent.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index gained 0.6 percent, with Beltone Financial Holding advancing 6.9 percent.