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- Asian shares retreat following sessions of gains
- Saudi Arabia and UAE’s stock markets retreated on Monday
- Oil prices edge lower in early trading
- Dollar weakens, gold firms
Global markets
Asian shares dropped early on Tuesday on profit-taking, following gains in the previous sessions.
Global markets have added gains yesterday after United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would delay a planned increase on Chinese imports as talks between the two sides were making “substantial progress”.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 percent from its highest since mid-September.
Overnight, the S&P 500 rose to a near four-month peak while the Dow and the Nasdaq also gained.
Middle East markets
Saudi Arabia’s stock market dropped 0.9 percent on Monday with Al Rajhi Bank falling 0.6 percent and Riyad Bank losing 3.1 percent.
Dubai’s index edged 0.3 percent lower, with Damac Properties losing 4.2 percent and Emaar Malls losing 2.2 percent.
The Abu Dhabi index fell 0.5 percent with the country's largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank decreasing 0.9 percent.
Qatar's index gained 0.4 percent, with heavyweights Industries Qatar and Qatar National Bank gaining 1.5 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.
Egypt's index was down 0.1 percent as Commercial International Bank Egypt fell 0.7 percent.
Oman’s index gained 0.4 percent, Kuwait’s stock market was closed for a public holiday and Bahrain’s index dropped 0.5 percent.
Oil prices
Oil prices dropped on Tuesday after U.S. President Trump expressed concern yesterday about oil prices and repeated his previous calls on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep prices steady.
International Brent futures were at $64.66 a barrel at 0346 GMT, down 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close. Brent, which plunged 3.5 percent on Monday, fell to as low as $64.32 a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest since February 14.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $55.19 per barrel, down 29 cents, or 0.5 percent. WTI futures dropped 3.1 percent on Monday.
Currencies
The dollar edged lower early on Tuesday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, eased a shade to 96.364.
Precious metals
Gold prices firmed on a weaker dollar.
Spot gold was flat at $1,327.40 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were steady at $1,329.9 per ounce.
(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)
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