PHOTO
24 October 2016
The dollar hovered near nine-month highs as fresh comments from a Federal Reserve official boosted bets of a rate hike by year-end.
On Friday, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said at a mortgage conference that "it makes sense to get back to a pace of gradual rate increases, preferably sooner rather than later."
His comments followed recent hawkish talk from central bank officials including New York Fed President William Dudley and Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer, which prompted investors to price in an interest rate increase this year.
Asian stocks drifted without clear direction on Monday after Wall Street's sluggish performance late last week.
Major stock markets in the Gulf rose on Sunday with Saudi Arabia outperforming it peers, continuing to climb on the back of upbeat investor sentiment following the mammoth international bond sale at the end of last week. Egypt's index slipped on profit taking.
Oil prices fell early on Monday as Iraq said it wanted to be exempt from any deal by producer cartel OPEC to cut production to prop up the market, and as U.S. drillers stepped up work.
Gold prices were broadly stable early Monday, after locking in their first weekly gain in four last week.
In the latest news, the king of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, met Venezuela's president on Sunday in Riyadh and discussed ways to stabilise global oil prices, state news SPA reported.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump a "sore loser" on Sunday because of his refusal at their debate last week to commit to accepting the results of the November 8 election.
The Bank of Japan said on Monday it is closely monitoring bank lending to the real estate sector to guard against excessive credit that could lead to overheating and pose risks to financial stability.
For access to market moving insight, subscribe to the Trading Middle East newsletter by clicking here.
The dollar hovered near nine-month highs as fresh comments from a Federal Reserve official boosted bets of a rate hike by year-end.
On Friday, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said at a mortgage conference that "it makes sense to get back to a pace of gradual rate increases, preferably sooner rather than later."
His comments followed recent hawkish talk from central bank officials including New York Fed President William Dudley and Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer, which prompted investors to price in an interest rate increase this year.
Asian stocks drifted without clear direction on Monday after Wall Street's sluggish performance late last week.
Major stock markets in the Gulf rose on Sunday with Saudi Arabia outperforming it peers, continuing to climb on the back of upbeat investor sentiment following the mammoth international bond sale at the end of last week. Egypt's index slipped on profit taking.
Oil prices fell early on Monday as Iraq said it wanted to be exempt from any deal by producer cartel OPEC to cut production to prop up the market, and as U.S. drillers stepped up work.
Gold prices were broadly stable early Monday, after locking in their first weekly gain in four last week.
In the latest news, the king of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, met Venezuela's president on Sunday in Riyadh and discussed ways to stabilise global oil prices, state news SPA reported.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump a "sore loser" on Sunday because of his refusal at their debate last week to commit to accepting the results of the November 8 election.
The Bank of Japan said on Monday it is closely monitoring bank lending to the real estate sector to guard against excessive credit that could lead to overheating and pose risks to financial stability.
For access to market moving insight, subscribe to the Trading Middle East newsletter by clicking here.
