DUBAI: Here are some factors that may affect Middle East stock markets on Thursday. Reuters has not verified the press reports and does not vouch for their accuracy.

INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL

* GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks tumble, yen rallies as U.S. and China escalate trade war

* Oil prices slide as U.S.-China trade war escalates

* PRECIOUS-Gold soars 2% after Powell speech, Trump tweets

* Trump heaps another 5% tariff on Chinese goods in latest tit-for-tat escalation

* Fed's commitment to act upstaged by Trump's furor

* Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi Arabia's Abha airport with drones - Al Masirah TV

* UAE minister calls Saudi-UAE coalition a strategic necessity in Yemen

* Israel strikes at Iranian forces in Syria to foil attack -military

* EXCLUSIVE-Sudan needs up to $10 billion in aid to rebuild economy, new PM says

* Qatari envoy says Israel, Hamas committed to truce despite violence

* Britain sends another warship to boost presence in the Gulf

 

EGYPT

* Egypt's central bank cuts rates by 150 bps after inflation slows

 

 

SAUDI ARABIA

* Saudi Arabia to buy 10% of annual wheat from Saudi firms abroad -SAGO

 

 

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

* Takaful Emarat Insurance Board Appoints Tammam Abdullah As Acting CEO

 

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom)