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- Asian shares retreat despite rise on Wall Street overnight
- UAE stock markets rose on Wednesday, amid mixed Gulf markets
- Oil prices edge higher but a rise in U.S. crude stocks pressured prices
- Dollar drops
Global markets
Asian shares dropped in early trading on Thursday as concerns over global growth kept weighing on stock markets. Investors’ focus shifted to the European Central Bank’s first monetary policy meeting that ends later in the day.
The ECB is widely expected to stay on hold, but may acknowledge a sharp slowdown in growth, raising the prospect that any further policy normalisation could be delayed, according to a Reuters report.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1 percent. It has gained 3.7 percent so far this year. Overnight on Wall Street, all three major United States equity indexes closed in positive territory.
“Above all, (investors) are wary there’s a possibility that the economic slowdown will go on amid the uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade tension,” Harumi Taguchi, principal economist at IHS Markit, told Reuters.
Middle East markets
Dubai’s stock market index rose 0.9 percent on Wednesday, with Emirates NBD, its largest bank, adding 2.1 percent and its largest listed developer Emaar Properties gaining 2.2 percent.
Abu Dhabi's index added 0.3 percent, with First Abu Dhabi Bank the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates gaining 0.6 percent.
Saudi Arabia's index rose 0.8 percent, with nine out of 10 banks rising. Al Rajhi Bank was up 0.6 percent and Samba Financial Group closed 1.7 percent higher.
Qatar's index gell 0.4 percent with Industries Qatar and Qatar Gas Transport (Nakilat) both dropping 1.6 percent.
Egypt’s blue chip index EGX30 rose 0.2 percent as Global Telecom Holding jumped 10 percent before trading on its shares were suspended, pending a statement from the company after VEON Ltd, a major shareholder in the firm, said it was considering taking it private.
Kuwait’s index dropped 0.4 percent, while Bahrain’s index added 0.7 percent and Oman’s index dropped 0.4 percent.
Oil prices
Oil prices edged higher in early trading on Thursday, but a rise in U.S. crude stocks limited gains.
Industry data showed that U.S. crude inventories rose by 6.6 million barrels in the week ending January 18 to 443.6 million, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 42,000 barrels.
International Brent crude oil futures were at $61.17 a barrel at 0124 GMT, up 3 cents from their last settlement, having closed down 0.6 percent in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.63 per barrel, up 3 cents from their last settlement. WTI futures closed little changed on Wednesday.
Currencies
The dollar dropped on Thursday on concerns over global growth.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was marginally lower at 96.10.
Precious metals
A weakness in the dollar supported gold prices on Thursday.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,284.35 per ounce, as of 0118 GMT, while U.S. gold futures were steady at $1,283.80 per ounce.
(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)
(gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)
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