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- Global markets retreat on Friday
- Middle East markets end the day mixed on Thursday
- Oil prices drop on Friday on higher supply
- Dollar adds gains, gold retreats
Global markets
Stock markets around the world retreat on Friday as weakening oil prices and data from China weighed on sentiment.
Chinese data showed that factory-gate inflation slowed for the fourth month in October on cooling domestic demand and manufacturing activity.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 201.92 points, or 0.77 percent, to 25,989.3, the S&P 500 lost 25.82 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,781.01 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 123.98 points, or 1.65 percent, to 7,406.90.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.37 percent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.08 percent.
“Oil is spooking the market. If oil prices are going to go lower that’s another sign that the global economy is going to slow its growth,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance in Charlotte, North Carolina told Reuters.
“It looks like a slow (stocks) sell off. All day long its been drifting lower,” he added.
Middle East markets
Saudi Arabia’s index dropped 0.6 percent on Thursday as Al Rajhi Banking & Investment and Saudi Basic Industries Corp both fell nearly 1 percent, while Saudi Cable Co slid 5.7 percent.
Dubai’s index edged 0.1 percent lower as Emirates NBD dropped 2.2 percent. Damac Properties was the best performer, gaining 3.9 percent.
Abu Dhabi’s index edged up 0.3 percent with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank gaining 1.2 percent and Emirates Telecommunications edging higher by 0.4 percent.
Qatar’s index surged 1.1 percent after two sessions of losses. Qatar National Bank gained 3.1 percent and Qatar Fuel Co rose 4.5 percent.
The Egyptian blue-chip index rose 0.9 percent, boosted by a 2 percent gain in Commercial International Bank after it a reported a 53 percent jump in its net interest income for the third-quarter.
Bahrain’s index edged 0.2 percent lower, Kuwait’s index edged 0.1 percent higher, while Oman added 1 percent.
Oil prices
Oil prices dropped on Friday on higher supply.
United States energy firms added oil rigs for a fourth week in the last five, bringing the total count to 886, the highest since March 2015, data showed on Friday.
Benchmark Brent crude futures fell 47 cents, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $70.18 a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 48 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $60.19 a barrel.
“What a difference a month makes,” Michael Tran, commodity strategist at RBC Capital Markets, told Reuters.
“Market sentiment has shifted from the most bullish tone in years with many calling for $100 only weeks ago, to the weakest investor sentiment since the 2016 price trough.”
Currencies
The dollar added gains on Friday.
The dollar index rose 0.19 percent, with the euro down 0.26 percent to $1.1333.
Precious metals
Gold prices dropped on Friday on a firmer dollar.
Spot gold fell 0.4 percent to $1,218.23 per ounce at 0357 GMT, having touched its lowest level since November 1 at $1,218.08.
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© ZAWYA 2018
