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DUBAI, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Gulf stocks may be soft on Monday after the global environment weakened, with oil and Asian equities pulling back amid concern that a U.S. Federal Reserve gathering this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming may signal the U.S. central bank is gearing up to hike interest rates.
Brent crude
LCOc1
has dropped 1.3 percent to $50.20 a barrel in Asian trade while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS
is down 0.7 percent.
ID:nL3N1B302B
There is little fresh, positive news to push Gulf markets up. Dubai's stock index
.DFMGI
, last at 3,560 points, has retreated twice since last week from technical resistance at its April peak of 3,605 points.
Dubai-listed GFH Financial
GFH.DU
may attract interest after it said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Bahrain's Bank Al Khair for a potential acquisition of a majority stake in the bank.
GFH said the acquisition would create a larger financial group with operations in the Gulf, Britain, Malaysia, Turkey, Pakistan and India, though a deal would depend on many conditions being met including due diligence, and no financial details were given.
Saudi Arabia's index
.TASI
, last at 6,212 points, is close to confirming a break of technical support on its early August low of 6,226 points. This would be very bearish, triggering a major right triangle formed by the highs and lows since April and pointing down to the 5,600-point area in the medium term.
(Reporting by Andrew Torchia) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6681 7277)(Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Brent crude
There is little fresh, positive news to push Gulf markets up. Dubai's stock index
Dubai-listed GFH Financial
GFH said the acquisition would create a larger financial group with operations in the Gulf, Britain, Malaysia, Turkey, Pakistan and India, though a deal would depend on many conditions being met including due diligence, and no financial details were given.
Saudi Arabia's index
(Reporting by Andrew Torchia) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com)(+9715 6681 7277)(Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))