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Oil prices edged up on Tuesday, lifted in part by a strong demand outlook for the coming weeks, but overall market conditions remain weak on the back of ample supplies.
In stocks, Asian shares cautiously edged higher on Tuesday, as investors awaited testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen for clues on when the central bank would tighten U.S. monetary policy.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged a few points higher in early trading, with sentiment underpinned by technology-led gains on Wall Street.
Middle East markets followed global shares higher on Monday and Saudi Arabia's stock index was bolstered by strong quarterly reports and dividend announcements.
The Riyadh index added 1.0 percent as all 12 of the listed banks rose.
Dubai's index rose 0.5 percent as shares of developer Union Properties climbed 1.7 percent.
Egypt's blue-chip index added 1.1 percent, recovering from a small drop on Sunday.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, added 0.1 percent to 96.094 ahead of Yellen's semi-annual monetary policy testimony before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday.
Gold edged lower on Tuesday on a firmer dollar after touching near four-month lows in the previous session as the market waits for cues from the central bank on the path of U.S. interest rate hikes.
In other news, Egypt expects to receive a second loan installment worth $1.25 billion from the International Monetary Fund within the next week, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy told private television channel CBC on Monday.
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said he still expected one more rise in interest rates from the Federal Reserve this year and for it to start unwinding its massive balance sheet in the next few months.
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© Trading Middle East 2017
