Saudi Arabia’s stock market ended higher on Sunday in response to Friday’s sharp rise in oil prices, while the Egyptian index slipped into negative territory following a recent rally.
Crude prices – a key driver of the Gulf’s financial markets – settled up by more than 5% on Friday amid uncertainty around future interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, while a looming EU ban on Russian oil and the possibility of China easing some COVID restrictions supported markets.
The benchmark index in Saudi Arabia gained 0.7%, led by a 1.6% jump in oil giant Saudi Aramco and a 0.5% increase in Al Rajhi Bank.
The Kingdom is considering setting up a new metals and mining stock exchange index as it looks to expand its resources sector to diversify away from hydrocarbons, a senior government official said on Friday. Saudi Arabian Mining Company was up 1.5%.—Agencies
