Oil prices

Oil prices extended gains on Thursday after official data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that gasoline inventories fell by 3.2 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, dropped by 371,000 barrels

A Reuters poll taken before the data release had forecast that gasoline stocks would be unchanged and distillate stockpiles would show a build of around 900,000 barrels.

Brent crude futures had risen 8 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $72.98 by 0043 GMT. They climbed 1 percent on Wednesday

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $68.96. They also gained about 1 percent on Wednesday.

Global markets

Asian shares also added gains on Thursday tracking higher shares on Wall Street as second quarter earnings supported stocks in the United States, but trade worries between the U.S. and China limited gains.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.53 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei and the Australian benchmark advanced 0.42 percent and 0.38 percent, respectively.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.32 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.22 percent to hit a more than five-month high, while the Nasdaq Composite declined marginally by 0.01 percent.

“While strong U.S. corporate earnings certainly helped boost sentiments, but that’s not enough to push the stocks meaningfully higher from here,” Yasuo Sakuma, chief investment officer at Libra Investments, told Reuters.

“Trade war fears are something that won’t go away overnight. Investors need to be prepared for various possibilities, such as the United States versus China and the United States versus European Union,” said Libra’s Sakuma.

Middle East markets

Stock markets in the Middle East were mixed on Wednesday.

Egypt's main index rose one percent, backed by solid gains in property shares.

Medinet Nasr Housing Development jumped 3.8 percent and Talaat Moustafa rose one percent.

Dubai’s index added 0.6 percent, helped by solid gains at Emirates NBD after the emirate's largest bank reported a 30 percent increase in second-quarter net profit, while other markets were mixed.

Boosted by a climb in net interest income and a drop in bad loan provisions, the bank made net profit of 2.63 billion dirhams ($716.1 million) in the three months to June 30, up from 2.02 billion dirhams in the corresponding period of 2017.

Property developer Emaar rose 1.0 percent and DAMAC Properties gained 1.4 percent.

Neighbouring Abu Dhabi’s index rose 0.4 percent amid muted trading on a handful of shares.

First Abu Dhabi Bank reversed its earlier losses that neared 1.0 percent and closed 0.8 percent higher and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank gained 0.3 percent.

Saudi Arabia’s index edged down 0.1 percent. Property developer Jabal Omar and petrochemical firm Tasnee lost three percent each.

Petrochemical giant SABIC added 0.8 percent and Riyad Bank jumped 2.2 percent.

Qatar’s index was flat with Qatar Islamic Bank rising 1.2 percent while Qatar National Bank fell 1.2 percent.

Kuwait’s index was flat, Bahrain’s index lost 0.5 percent and Oman’s index rose 0.3 percent.

Currencies

The dollar retreated from a three-week high early on Thursday.

Against a basket of six major currencies the dollar index rose to a three-week high of 95.4 before settling around 95.08, up 0.2 percent. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar hit a 6-1/2 month high of 113.140 yen on Wednesday. The euro was down 0.16 percent to $1.164.

Precious metals

Gold prices rose early on Thursday as the dollar retreated from a three-week high.

Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,227.55 an ounce at 0058 GMT. The metal fell to its lowest since mid-July 2017 at $1,220.81.

U.S. gold futures for August delivery were little changed at $1,227.40 an ounce.

Gain a deeper understanding of financial markets through Thomson Reuters Eikon.

(Writing Gerard Aoun; Editing by Shane McGinley)
(gerard.aoun@thomsonreuters.com)

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