• Asian shares follow Wall Street lower
  • Oil prices retreat on demand concerns
  • Middle East markets rebound
  • Dollar firms, gold prices drop

Global markets

Asian shares dropped in early trading on Tuesday, tracking a retreat on Wall Street overnight.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.5% to its lowest since June 20. Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.1%.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 lost 0.48% while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.78%.

“After a strong rally in June that more than erased the May drawdown, valuations look demanding, underpinning our underweight stance,” Pictet Wealth Management said in a memo, according to a Reuters report. “We expect (emerging market) equities to perform sideways in the coming weeks, but with the possibility of rotation to quality cyclicals.”

Oil prices

Oil prices dropped early on Tuesday amid demand worries due to the ongoing United States-China trade war.

Brent crude futures were down 21 cents, or 0.3%, at $63.90 a barrel by 0343 GMT. They fell 12 cents on Monday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 25 cents, or 0.4%, at $57.41 a barrel. They rose 15 cents in the previous session.

“The weaker global economic outlook is keeping oil prices under downward pressure, but tensions in the Middle East are enhancing awareness to possible supply risk and should keep a floor under oil in the medium term,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at Vanguard Markets in Bangkok, told Reuters.

Middle East markets

Most markets in the region rebounded on Tuesday following drops in the previous session.

The Saudi index gained 0.2% with Al Rajhi Bank rising 0.6% and Riyad Bank adding 1.7%.

The Abu Dhabi index added 0.2% with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank gaining 1.3%.

The Dubai index increased 0.3% led by a 2.5% jump in its largest listed developer Emaar Properties.

In Qatar, the index declined 0.7% with Qatar National Bank losing 1.5% and Commercial Bank wasdown 1.9%.

In Egypt, the index gained 0.2% as Egypt Kuwait Holding leapt 5.1% and Talat Mostafa Group Holding was up 1.6%.

Kuwait’s premier market index edged 0.2 percent higher, Bahrain’s index edged 0.3 percent lower and Oman’s index edged 0.2 percent higher.

Currencies

The dollar was mainly unchanged early on Tuesday.

The dollar index .DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 97.374.

Precious metals

Gold prices dropped early on Tuesday.

Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,391.65 per ounce at 0118 GMT.

U.S. gold futures slipped 0.4% to $1,395.10 an ounce.

Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)

(gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)


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