• Asian shares drop on Huawei CFO arrest
  • UAE stocks dropped on Wednesday, rest of region mixed
  • Oil prices track global markets lower ahead of OPEC meeting
  • Dollar weakens, gold gains

Global markets

Asian shares retreated in early trading on Thursday after Canadian authorities said they had arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver, where she is facing extradition to the United States.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.7 percent.

“The U.S. has been telling its allies not to use Huawei products for security reasons and is likely to continue to put pressure on its allies,” Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Reuters.

“So while there was a brief moment of optimism after the weekend U.S.-China talks but the reality is, it won’t be that easy,” he said.

Middle East markets

Dubai’s index dropped 1.6 percent on Wednesday, as a retreat in real estate stock weighed on the index.

Emaar Properties fell 3.1 percent and Union Properties dropped 6.4 percent to hit their lowest levels since January 2016.

Abu Dhabi’s index lost 1.4 percent as First Abu Dhabi Bank dropped 2.3 percent, Aldar Properties dropped 2.5 percent, while Eshraq Properties lost 3.1 percent.

Saudi Arabia's main index slipped 0.3 percent, with National Commercial Bank losing 0.6 percent and Al Rajhi Bank also declining 0.6 percent.

Egypt’s blue-chip index EGX30 dropped 0.3 percent as Eastern Co was down 2.2 percent and Heliopolis Co For Housing And Development lost 2.1 percent.

Qatar's index was mainly flat. Qatar National Bank shed 2.5 percent.

Kuwait’s index added 0.4 percent, Bahrain’s index edged 0.3 percent lower and Oman’s index gained 0.4 percent.

Oil prices

Oil prices followed global markets lower on Thursday, ahead of a meeting by producer group OPEC that is expected to result in a supply cut.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.66 per barrel at 0140 GMT, down 23 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close.

International Brent crude oil futures were down 7 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $61.49 per barrel.

“Markets...believe the production cut deal will be in range of 1-1.3 million bpd,” ANZ bank said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report.

Currencies

The dollar dropped 0.4 percent against the yen early on Thursday amid a spike in risk aversion.

The yuan eased 0.2 percent against the dollar in offshore trade while the euro traded flat at $1.1345.

Precious metals

Gold prices were trading higher on a weaker dollar.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,240.04 per ounce at 0140 GMT.

U.S. gold futures were up 0.3 percent at $1,245.7per ounce.

(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)

(gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com) 

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