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- Asian shares retreat on trade tensions
- Middle East markets drop on Sunday tracking oil and equities
- Oil prices add gains on supply concerns
- Dollar, gold prices add gains
Global markets
Asian shares dropped in early trading on Monday as a series of factors affected investor sentiment. Worries about the impact of a United States-China trade war, a spike in U.S. bond yields this week and caution ahead of earnings season, were the main reasons.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.8 percent.
On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 287.16 points, or 1.15 percent, to 25,339.99, the S&P 500 gained 38.76 points, or 1.42 percent, to 2,767.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 167.83 points, or 2.29 percent, to 7,496.89, the three indices snapped a six-day losing streak on Friday as technology stocks recovered.
“Some people say markets drew comfort from China’s exports data. But to me it seems so obvious the numbers were inflated by front-loading ahead of the introduction of tariffs,” Norihiro Fujito, chief investment analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Reuters.
Middle East markets
Stock markets in the Middle East dropped on Sunday as a drop in oil prices and equities last week weighed on markets in the region.
Saudi Arabia’s index closed 3.5 percent lower on geopolitical tensions.
"It’s the political environment. The market is reacting negatively to sentiment around the Khashoggi case and the political noise around it," Salah Shamma, head of investment for the region at Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity, told Reuters.
Dubai’s index dropped 1.5 percent, as 28 shares fell and 7 added gains according to data from the exchange. Neighbouring Abu Dhabi’s index fell 0.7 percent.
Egypt’s index added 1.9 percent. Shares of Egyptian property developer Medinet Nasr rallied 10 percent after property firm SODIC said it intended to make a tender offer to acquire the company through a share swap.
Qatar’s index dropped 0.4 percent, Oman’s index rose 0.2 percent while Kuwait’s index dropped 1.9 percent and Bahrain’s index was mainly unchanged.
Oil prices
Oil prices rose in early trading on Monday on concerns about supply.
Brent crude had risen 98 cents, or 1.22 percent, to $81.41 a barrel by 0124 GMT, on track for its biggest daily gain since October 9.
U.S. crude futures climbed 80 cents, or 1.12 percent, to $72.15 a barrel, extending gains they racked up on Friday after hefty losses on Wednesday and Thursday.
“The market has again expressed concerns over geopolitical tensions in the Middle East after U.S. and Saudi traded comments over the disappearance of the Saudi journalist, leading to a jump in prices,” Wang Xiao, head of crude research with Guotai Junan Futures, wrote in a research note, according to a Reuters report.
Currencies
The dollar was trading higher early on Monday, as equities retreated.
An index that tracks the dollar versus six major currencies was up 0.1 percent at 95.31.
Precious metals
Gold prices rose on higher demand for safe havens following a retreat in global markets.
Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,220.66 an ounce at 0102 GMT. Gold rose 1.3 percent last week in its biggest weekly percentage gain in seven weeks.
U.S. gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $1,224.1 an ounce.
(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Shane McGinley)
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