23 August 2017

Asian stocks steadied on Wednesday after a surge in the previous day as tech shares boosted Wall Street and the U.S. dollar showed modest gains.

In the Gulf region, Dubai outperformed most stock markets on Tuesday rising by 0.5 percent as blue chip Emaar Properties gained 0.6 percent. Abu Dhabi’s index, however, dropped by 0.5 percent as Dana gas lost 4.5 percent. The Saudi index edged up by 0.4 percent as Al Rajhi and Ma’aden gained 2.2 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday with rising concerns of oversupply as Libya’s largest oil field was gradually restarting after a shutdown. OPEC and non-OPEC states’ next ministerial meeting has been proposed for Sept. 22.

Gold inched lower on Wednesday as the dollar firmed and investors eyed the meeting of global central bankers later this week.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has deposited $6.9 billion in its banks in July to offset the impact of outflows of deposits from Saudi, UAE and Bahraini banks due to the diplomatic crisis.

The World Bank refuted the Iranian government’s comments that it agreed to provide $1.18 billion to finance railway electrification project. The bank stated that it is not currently looking at financing any projects in Iran.

In other news, the U.S. has decided to withhold up to $290 million worth of aid to Egypt due to Cairo’s stance on human rights especially with the new law that restricts the work of non-governmental organizations, sources told Reuters.

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