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- Oil prices rebound after a sharp drop on Tuesday
- Asian shares rise moderately, all eyes on the Fed meeting
- Middle East markets dropped on Tuesday as oil prices fell
- Dollar drops, gold prices trade near five-month peak
Oil prices
The American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday that United States crude stocks rose unexpectedly last week, while gasoline inventories increased, which weighed on oil prices as investors took into consideration the increase in supply.
Global benchmark Brent dropped 5.62 percent on Tuesday, at one point marking a 14-month low of $56.16 a barrel. Prices rebounded 0.85 percent on Wednesday.
U.S. crude oil had climbed 37 cents on Wednesday, or 0.8 percent, to $46.24 per barrel by 0122 GMT, after plunging 7.3 percent the day before in a session when it touched its lowest since August last year at $45.79.
“The toxic combination of oversupply worries and global growth distress should see oil prices languish into year-end as negative momentum is leading price action,” Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at OANDA, told Reuters.
Global markets
Asian shares rose moderately in early trading on Wednesday as investors were cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting later in the day.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.4 percent, while Shanghai blue chips were flat.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow ended Tuesday up 0.35 percent. The S&P 500 edged up 0.01 percent and the Nasdaq 0.45 percent.
“Despite recent market volatility we think that it is still more likely than not that the Fed will raise rates,” said ANZ senior economist Tom Kenny, according to a Reuters report.
“But we lean slightly toward the Fed removing the reference to the need for ‘further gradual increases’.”
Middle East markets
Most stock markets in the Middle East dropped on Tuesday as oil prices fell.
In Dubai, the index dropped 2.1 percent with the emirate's largest lender, Emirates NBD, shedding 4.6 percent and its biggest listed developer, Emaar Properties, falling 2.3 percent, while DAMAC Properties plunged 6.3 percent to its lowest level since February 2015.
The Abu Dhabi index slipped 0.8 percent with First Abu Dhabi Bank, the United Arab Emirates' biggest lender, falling 1.3 percent. Abu Dhabi National Energy Co slumped 9.1 percent to its lowest level since April 2018.
The Saudi Arabian index lost 0.3 percent with the largest lender, National Commercial Bank, dropping 2.1 percent and Yanbu National Petrochemicals slipping 2.4 percent.
Egypt's blue-chip index fell 0.7 percent, with banking shares weighing on the index. Commercial International Bank dropped 0.6 percent.
The Qatari stock exchange was closed for a public holiday, Bahrain’s index fell 0.4 percent, while Oman’s index dropped 0.7 percent and Kuwait’s index dropped 0.8 percent.
Currencies
The dollar dropped on Wednesday, as investors awaited the Fed’s meeting results.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.2 percent at 96.9, extending losses into the second day.
Precious metals
Gold prices were trading near five-month high on Wednesday as the dollar weakened.
Spot gold was steady at $1,249.63 per ounce, as of 0116 GMT, having touched a peak since July 11 at $1,250.92 earlier in the session.
U.S. gold futures were steady at $1,253.1 per ounce.
(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Shane McGinley)
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