Historic weekly gains in Gulf markets supported by corporate results.. and Egyptian indicators recover key technical levels
The main Saudi market index rose more than 1% in Thursday’s session, nearing the 12,000-point level, supported by shares of banks and utilities.
It posted its biggest weekly gain in more than two years after rising more than 7% in the third week of July, recouping some of the losses in May and June.
The Egyptian 30 index rose about 1% in Thursday’s session to regain levels of 9200 points, posting a seventh consecutive gain.
The index rose about 6% in the third week of July, posting its biggest weekly gain in about two months, amid a clear improvement in liquidity levels after the Eid al-Adha holiday.
The top Kuwaiti index rose 2%, posting its biggest daily gain in two months, supported by leading banks reporting positive results for the second quarter of the year.
On the Qatar Stock Exchange, the general index rose more than 1%, rising for the fifth straight session, regaining the 12,700-point level.
US indices end the week with gains, and the Dow Jones gains 1.7% for the week
The S&P 500 fell about 1% on Friday, but social media stocks faltered as investors digested Snap’s disappointing results.
During Friday’s session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.43%, the S&P 500 fell 0.93%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.87%.
The losses pared weekly gains for all three major indexes, as the Dow Jones closed the week higher by 1.7%, the S&P 500 by 2.2% and the Nasdaq by 3.1%.
Weekly gains for European indices and the STOXX600 end the week with gains of around 3%.
European markets rose on Friday as investors tried to gauge economic data and corporate earnings and the direction of monetary policy.
The Stoxx 600 index rose 0.4%, Travel & Leisure shares rose 2.4%, and most major sectors and bourses closed in positive territory.
The pan-European benchmark index had a good week overall, rising nearly 3%.
Texas crude fell for a third week in a row as U.S. gasoline demand eased.
Brent crude futures were down 0.64% at $103.20 a barrel, while WTI futures were down 1.71% at $94.70.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell for a third straight week after falling in the past two sessions, while Brent crude rose 2% on the week.
Gold benefits from the dollar’s decline and makes its first weekly gain in 6 weeks
Gold posted its first weekly gain in 6 weeks as a decline in US Treasury yields and a weaker dollar boosted the appeal of the non-yielding bullion as a safe haven amid persistent economic risks.
In Friday’s session, spot gold rose 0.29% to $1,723.34 an ounce, and posted a weekly gain of about 1% after a strong recovery from Thursday’s lowest level in more than a year at $1,680.25.
US gold futures rose 0.8% to $1727.4.
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