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- Oil prices drop despite U.S. sanctions on Iran
- Asian shares track a drop in oil
- Egypt and Qatar’s indices outperform the region
- Dollar rises, gold drops
Oil prices
Oil prices dropped on Thursday on higher supply in the United States, gains were limited by the impact on markets of tighter U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Brent crude futures were at $74.53 per barrel at 0241 GMT, down 4 cents from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $65.75 per barrel, down 14 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their previous settlement.
U.S. crude oil production has risen by more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) since early 2018 to a record of 12.2 million barrel per day currently, making the United States the world’s biggest oil producer ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia.
“Following the U.S. decision to toughen its sanctions on Iran ... we have revised up our end-year forecast for Brent crude from $50 to $60 per barrel,” analysts at Capital Economics said in a note according to a Reuters report.
Global markets
Asian shares followed oil prices lower on Thursday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2 percent. Overnight on Wall Street, shares edged lower.
“Corporate earnings that have been released so far suggests the worst period for the Chinese economy was over. While that is supportive of share prices, that alone is not enough to keep the rally going for more than a month,” Chotaro Morita, chief rates strategist at SMBC Nikko.
Middle East markets
Egypt’s blue-chip index EGX30 rose 0.9 percent on Wednesday after its largest lender Commercial International Bank increased 0.6 percent and Egypt Kuwait Holding rebounded 3.7 percent after trading ex-dividend on Tuesday.
Qatar’s index added 0.7 percent with Qatar National Bank adding 2.8 percent and Commercial Bank gaining 3.3 percent to its highest level since October 2015.
The Abu Dhabi index retreated 0.2 percent following five-days of gains, after the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank slid 0.7 percent.
Dubai's index lost 0.3 percent, with Emaar Properties sliding 2 percent and its unit Emaar Malls shedding 1.7 percent.
Saudi's index was up 0.1 percent with Al Jouf Cement adding 0.8 percent and Qassim Cement rising 6.5 percent.
Kuwait’s premier market index added 0.4 percent while Bahrain’s index was mainly flat and Oman’s index dropped 0.2 percent.
Currencies
The dollar hovered near two-year highs early on Thursday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 98.133 after rising overnight to 98.189.
Precious metals
Gold prices dropped on a stronger dollar.
Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,274.21 per ounce, as of 0106 GMT.
U.S. gold futures slipped 0.2 percent to $1,276.40 an ounce.
(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)
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