• Asian shares retreat on renewed trade tensions
  • Egypt’s index dropped 3.4 percent on Sunday
  • Oil prices drop on trade concern
  • The dollar holds ground, gold prices flatten

Global markets

Asian markets retreated early on Monday as a report from the Wall Street Journal said that the United States was about to announce a new round of tariffs on Chinese imports.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 1 percent, snapping three straight sessions of gains.

“Further escalation looks very likely in which the rate will likely be raised to 25 percent and more U.S. tariffs threatened, while China may potentially pull out of trade talks entirely and escalate on the new front of outright export restrictions,” wrote analysts at JPMorgan, according to a Reuters report.

“This would of course only inflame the situation further.”

On Friday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10.01 points, or 0.04 percent, to 26,156, the S&P 500 gained 0.41 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,904.59 and the Nasdaq Composite added 16.67 points, or 0.21 percent, to 8,030.38.

Middle East markets

Most markets in the Middle East dropped on Sunday, as cautious sentiment among emerging markets continues to weigh on stocks.

Saudi Arabia’s index dropped 1.6 percent, trading near a six-month low. Samba Financial Group retreated 3.3 percent and National Commercial Bank dropped 2.9 percent.

The Dubai index fell 0.8 percent, hit by a 3.2 percent drop in Emaar Properties and a 2.3 percent fall in Emirates NBD.

Drake & Scull (DSI) ended 0.5 percent lower, erasing some of its early losses when it hit a record low of 0.376 dirhams. It closed at 0.4 dirhams.

The Abu Dhabi index was up 0.6 percent, supported by market heavyweight First Abu Dhabi Bank, which gained 0.8 percent, and a 4.2 percent gain in United Arab Bank.

In Qatar, the index dropped 0.8 percent, easing from a 16-month high in the previous session. Industries Qatar dropped almost 0.8 percent and Qatar National Bank fell 0.8 percent.

Egypt’s index was the worst performer against its peers in the region, retreating 3.4 percent.

Kuwait’s index was flat, Bahrain’s index dropped 0.3 percent and Oman’s index added 0.1 percent.

Oil prices

Oil prices edged down early on Monday renewed trade tensions between the U.S. and China, despite fears of tightening supply from upcoming sanctions on Iran.

Brent crude oil futures dipped 16 cents, or 0.2 percent to $77.93 a barrel by 0035 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell 20 cents or 0.3 percent, to $68.79 a barrel.

“The market’s expectation of shortages has cooled after data from last week showed increases in supplies, while investors have lowered the outlook for oil demand,” Wang Xiao, head of crude research with Guotai Junan Futures, told Reuters.

Currencies

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, edged up on Monday.

The index held at 94.965, well above Friday’s 94.359 which was the lowest since end-July.

Precious metals

Gold prices remained mainly unchanged early on Monday.

Spot gold was flat at $1,193 an ounce as of 0039 GMT.

U.S. gold futures were down 0.2 percent at $1,198.20.

(Writing by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)

(gerard.aoun@thomsonreuters.com)

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