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- Global markets rise on trade talks hope
- Oil prices rise on tightening supplies
- Dubai’s index added 0.7 percent on Thursday
- Dollar remains unchanged, gold gains
Global markets
Stock markets from around the world rose on Friday following signs of progress in the United States and China trade talks.
According to a Reuters report, U.S. officials held “constructive” talks in Beijing, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, concluding the latest round of dialogue with China aimed at resolving the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.44 percent. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.40 percent.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 119.22 points, or 0.46 percent, to 25,836.68, the S&P 500 gained 9.93 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,825.37 and the Nasdaq Composite added 40.15 points, or 0.52 percent, to 7,709.31.
Oil prices
Oil prices rose about 1 percent on Friday on tightening supplies.
OPEC issued a list of oil production cuts by its members and other major producers for six months starting January 1, to boost confidence in its oil supply reduction pact.
Oil prices have also been boosted by lower supply from Venezuela, as the U.S. introduced petroleum export sanctions against state-owned Venezuelan energy firm PDVSA.
The May Brent crude oil futures contract, which expired Friday, gained 57 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $68.39 a barrel, marking a first-quarter gain of 27 percent.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 84 cents, or 1.42 percent, to $60.14 a barrel, and posted a rise of 32 percent in the January-March period.
“With U.S. sanctions taking Iranian and Venezuelan oil off the market, at the same time OPEC and non-OPEC producers want to see higher prices and are currently reluctant to make up for any lost volume,” Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.
Middle East markets
Dubai’s index gained 0.7 percent on Thursday with Dubai Islamic Bank, the United Arab Emirates' largest sharia-compliant lender, gaining 2.5 percent and the country's largest lender Emirates NBD adding 0.5 percent.
The Abu Dhabi index dipped 0.2 percent, led by a 5.7 percent drop in Aldar Properties and a 0.8 percent slide in Emirates Telecommunications Group as they traded ex-dividend.
Saudi Arabia's index was up 0.3 percent with Al Rajhi Bank adding 1 percent and National Commercial Bank rising 2 percent.
The Qatar index gained 0.4 percent with market heavyweight Industries Qatar increasing 1.4 percent and Qatar Gas Transport rising 4 percent.
Kuwait’s premier market index edged up 0.1 percent, Bahrain’s index was mainly flat and Oman’s index dropped 1 percent.
Currencies
The dollar was mainly unchanged on Friday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last up 0.07 percent to 97.274.
Precious metals
Gold prices gained on Friday.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,292.93 per ounce as of 1:34 p.m. EDT (1734 GMT).
U.S. gold futures settled 0.2 percent higher at $1,298.50 per ounce.
(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)
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