PHOTO
Asian stocks wobbled on Wednesday but still marked a 10-year high, cheered by record highs on Wall Street.On Tuesday, the S&P 500, Dow Jones industrials and Nasdaq Composite all marked record finishes as investors' concerns faded about North Korean tensions as well as the impact of Hurricane Irma.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was slightly lower, after earlier poking up to its highest level since October 2007.
In the Middle East, Banque Saudi Fransi fell in Riyadh after France's Credit Agricole agreed to sell a 16.2 percent stake in it to local investor Kingdom Holding.Saudi Arabia's index dropped 0.2 percent as Saudi Fransi fell 4.2 percent to 31.60 riyals and Kingdom Holding jumped 5.1 percent.Dubai's index was almost flat and Abu Dhabi was 0.4 percent higher as the United Arab Emirates' biggest bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, rebounded 2.0 percent.
Egypt's index dropped 0.4 percent but Egypt Aluminum soared 10 percent after the company said it was considering whether to expand annual metal production capacity by 250,000 tonnes.
In commodities, oil prices were mixed on Wednesday, dampened by reports of rising U.S. crude stockpiles but retaining some of the gains made in the previous session after OPEC said it expected higher demand for its crude next year.U.S. West Texas Intermediate was unchanged at $48.23 a barrel at around 0359 GMT after rising earlier in the day. The contract rose 0.3 percent on Tuesday.International benchmark Brent crude was down 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $54.14 a barrel, having settled up 0.8 percent in the previous session.
Gold held steady on Wednesday amid firmer equities.
In other news, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he will push banks to open access to credit for investors and to pull their interest rates down, Milliyet newspaper and other media reported on Tuesday.
Egypt aims to increase its corn farming area by two thirds by the 2018/2019 fiscal year to help reduce the country's reliance on imports, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.
For access to market moving insight, subscribe to the Trading Middle East newsletter by clicking here.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was slightly lower, after earlier poking up to its highest level since October 2007.
In the Middle East, Banque Saudi Fransi fell in Riyadh after France's Credit Agricole agreed to sell a 16.2 percent stake in it to local investor Kingdom Holding.Saudi Arabia's index dropped 0.2 percent as Saudi Fransi fell 4.2 percent to 31.60 riyals and Kingdom Holding jumped 5.1 percent.Dubai's index was almost flat and Abu Dhabi was 0.4 percent higher as the United Arab Emirates' biggest bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, rebounded 2.0 percent.
Egypt's index dropped 0.4 percent but Egypt Aluminum soared 10 percent after the company said it was considering whether to expand annual metal production capacity by 250,000 tonnes.
In commodities, oil prices were mixed on Wednesday, dampened by reports of rising U.S. crude stockpiles but retaining some of the gains made in the previous session after OPEC said it expected higher demand for its crude next year.U.S. West Texas Intermediate was unchanged at $48.23 a barrel at around 0359 GMT after rising earlier in the day. The contract rose 0.3 percent on Tuesday.International benchmark Brent crude was down 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $54.14 a barrel, having settled up 0.8 percent in the previous session.
Gold held steady on Wednesday amid firmer equities.
In other news, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he will push banks to open access to credit for investors and to pull their interest rates down, Milliyet newspaper and other media reported on Tuesday.
Egypt aims to increase its corn farming area by two thirds by the 2018/2019 fiscal year to help reduce the country's reliance on imports, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.
For access to market moving insight, subscribe to the Trading Middle East newsletter by clicking here.
