· Oil drops amid US-China trade tensions

· Stock markets close mixed

· Tadawul’s index drops 1.9 percent

· Dollar gains, gold prices retreat

Oil prices

Oil prices dropped on Friday on concerns about a slowdown in economic growth amid trade tensions between the US and China.

Brent crude was down 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $60.98, after adding 1 percent on Thursday.

US oil fell 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $56.65 a barrel by 0050 GMT.

China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday the world’s two biggest economies were discussing the next round of face-to-face trade talks scheduled for September.

Government data on Wednesday had showed that US crude stocks dropped last week by 10 million barrels to their lowest since October as imports slowed, while gasoline and distillate stocks each fell by over 2 million barrels.

Global markets

Stock markets across the globe were mixed on Friday.

The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 0.19 percent and the pan-European STOXX 600 ended 0.7 percent higher.

However, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.89 points, or 0.09 percent, to 26,339.36, the S&P 500 lost 4.5 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,920.08 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 36.01 points, or 0.45 percent, to 7,937.38.

U.S. markets will be closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

New trade developments ahead of the re-opening of US financial markets on Tuesday could sway sentiment, Ken Polcari, managing principal at Butcher Joseph Asset Management in New York, told Reuters.

“Tariffs are being implemented on Sept. 1 from the US,” Polcari said. “The fact is (China) very well could retaliate, and no one should be surprised if they do. With an extra day of no trading, it could be that kind of news that causes a disruption to the market.”

Middle East markets

Saudi Arabia’s index fell 1.9 percent on Thursday. Al Rajhi Bank shed 3.4 percent and Samba Financial Group plunged 4.2 percent.

In Dubai, the index traded flat as Dubai Islamic Bank increased 0.8 percent.

The Abu Dhabi index gained 0.7 percent with Emirates Telecommunications adding 1.6 percent and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank advanced 3.5 percent.

Qatar's index added the most gains, closing 2.1 percent higher as Qatar National Bank rose 3.4 percent and Industries Qatar surged 2.7 percent.

Egypt's blue-chip index closed 1.6 percent higher, with the country's largest lender Commercial International Bank rising 2.9 percent and Egypt Kuwait Holding closing 3.1 percent higher.

Kuwait’s premier market index edged down 0.2 percent while Bahrain’s index edged 0.1 percent lower and Oman’s index gained 0.8 percent.

Currencies

The dollar closed higher on Friday.

The dollar index .DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.43 percent.

Precious metals

Gold prices retreated as the dollar gained.

Spot gold fell 0.5 percent to $1,520.40 per ounce at 1729 GMT.

US gold futures settled down 0.5 percent at $1,529.40.

(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Seban Scaria)

(gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)

© ZAWYA 2019