• Asian shares bounce back
  • Oil prices drop sharply on Tuesday
  • Saudi, UAE stock market indices drop
  • Dollar firms, gold edges higher

Global markets

Asian shares rose on Wednesday after activity in China’s services sector expanded at the fastest pace in three months in August, according to a business survey.

MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan snapped two days of losses and gained 0.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.45% while the blue-chip CSI300 index gained 0.5 percent.

Shares on Wall Street retreated on Tuesday as data showed the United States manufacturing sector contracted in August for the first time since 2016.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 285.26 points, or 1.08 percent, to 26,118.02, the S&P 500 lost 20.19 points, or 0.69 percent, to 2,906.27 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 88.72 points, or 1.11 percent, to 7,874.16.

Oil prices

Oil prices dropped on Tuesday as U.S. manufacturing data and trade tensions between the U.S. and China weighed on investor sentiment.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell $1.16, or 2.1 percent, to settle at $53.94 a barrel. The session low was $52.84 a barrel, the lowest since August 9.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures lost 40 cents, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $58.26 a barrel. It sank as low as $57.23 a barrel, also the weakest since August 9.

The U.S.-China trade dispute “is the single most important flat price driver of late,” Tamas Varga of oil brokerage PVM, told Reuters.

Middle East markets

Saudi Arabia’s index fell 0.6 percent on Tuesday as Al Rajhi Bank’s shares fell 1 percent and Riyad Bank’s stock retreated 2.4 percent.

Dubai’s index dropped 0.5 percent with Emaar Properties, the emirate's largest listed developer, losing 2.3 percent.

Abu Dhabi’s index fell 1 percent with First Abu Dhabi Bank losing 1.1 percent and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank shedding 2.6 percent.

The Qatari index added 0.3 percent with Qatar International Islamic Bank surging 5.3 percent and Qatar National Bank closing 1.1 percent higher.

Egypt's blue-chip index EGX30 declined 0.7 percent. Commercial International Bank was down 0.9 percent and Eastern Company traded 3.5 percent lower.

Kuwait’s premier market index edged up 0.1 percent while Oman’s index added 0.4 percent and Bahrain’s index gained 0.2 percent.

Currencies

The dollar index firmed on Wednesday.

The dollar index .DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 98.938 after rising overnight to 99.37.

Precious metals

Gold prices edged higher on Wednesday.

Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,548.31 per ounce at 0121 GMT.

U.S. gold futures were steady at $1,555.6 an ounce.

(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)

(gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)

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