• Asian shares rebound on trade deal hopes
  • Middle East markets dropped on Monday on lower oil prices
  • Oil prices rise on tightening supplies
  • Dollar strengthens, gold retreats

Global markets

Asian shares rebounded in early trading on Tuesday, with investors hoping for a trade deal between the United States and China.

“There will be no winner in a trade war. So at some point they will likely strike a deal,” Mutsumi Kagawa, chief global strategist at Rakuten Securities in Tokyo, told Reuters.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3 percent.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.22 points, or 0.21 percent, to 25,053.11, the S&P 500 gained 1.92 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,709.8 and the Nasdaq Composite added 9.71 points, or 0.13 percent, to 7,307.91.

Middle East markets

Stock markets in the region dropped on Monday dragged lower by weak oil prices.

Dubai’s index dropped 1.3 percent as Emirates NBD’s shares and Emaar Properties dropped 1.5 percent. Dubai Investments slumped 6 percent to a six-year low.

Abu Dhabi’s index dropped 0.7 percent with First Abu Dhabi Bank shedding 0.9 percent.

Saudi Arabia’s index lost 0.4 percent with Al Rajhi Bank shedding 0.8 percent and Saudi Basic Industries down 0.7 percent.

Qatar's index fell 1.3 percent as the Middle East's largest lender Qatar National Bank slid 5.2 percent and Industries Qatar dropped 2.2 percent.

Egypt's blue-chip index EGX30 edged up 0.1 percent with the country's biggest lender Commercial International Bank gaining 1.7 percent.

Kuwait's premier market index edged up 0.3 percent, Oman's index dropped 0.4 percent and Bahrain's index fell 0.8 percent.

Oil prices

Oil prices rose on Tuesday supported by U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and OPEC-led supply cuts.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $52.78 per barrel at 0329 GMT, up 37 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last close.

International Brent crude futures were up 50 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $62.01 per barrel.

“We believe that oil is not pricing in supply-side risks lately as markets are currently focused on U.S.-China trade talks, ignoring the risks currently in place from the loss of Venezuelan barrels,” U.S. bank J.P. Morgan said in a weekly note, according to a Reuters report.

Currencies

The dollar held gains on Tuesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose to its highest level in almost three months, at 97.123.

Precious metals

Gold prices dropped on a stronger dollar.

Spot gold was 0.4 percent lower at $1,308.18 per ounce at 1913 GMT.

U.S. gold futures settled down 0.5 percent at $1,311.9 per ounce.

(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)

(gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)


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