Introduction

Most stock markets in the Gulf closed higher on Sunday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said earlier that the bank did not believe the battle against inflation was over but would proceed “cautiously” in its next move.

In his speech on Friday at a symposium of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA, Powell said that inflation remains very high even despite recent positive indicators, and that the US central bank will have to take further actions to stabilize prices again.

The oil and gas exporting countries in the Gulf generally follow the movements of the US Federal Reserve in terms of interest rates, as most of the countries there peg their currencies to the dollar. Only the Kuwaiti dinar is pegged to a basket of currencies that includes the dollar.

Stock Market Performance

The Saudi index rose 0.6%, helped by shares in oil giant Saudi Aramco up 0.4% and Al-Rajhi Bank up 0.3%.

The Qatari index rose 0.2%, while the share of the telecommunications company (I want) rose 3.7%.

Outside the Gulf region, Egypt’s leading stock index rose 1.7%, with most of its constituent stocks gaining.

Egypt hopes its early entry into the BRICS group will help ease the foreign exchange deficit and attract new investment, but analysts say it may be some time before any benefits come from the move.

In Bahrain, the index rose 0.1% to 1953 points, while the Omani market index fell 0.1% to 4772 points, and in Kuwait the main index fell 0.1% to 7756 points.