Stock markets in the United Arab Emirates inched lower in early trade Monday after the collapse of Sunday’s talks between oil producers in Doha caused crude prices to tumble.
Dubai’s stock index sank 2.0 percent in the first 15 minutes with Emirates NBD, the largest bank, losing 5.0 percent and builder Drake & Scull down 2.7 percent.
But Shuaa Capital, which has been rising for a month partly on rumours that a shareholder is building a major stake, added 2.8 percent.
Abu Dhabi’s index dropped 0.9 percent as Abu Dhabi National Energy sank 3.3 percent.
Brent futures are trading at $41.08 per barrel, down 4.7 percent from their last settlement. The failure of the Doha meeting to agree on an oil output freeze may not make a huge difference to prices in the long term – analysts thought a freeze would have had only a minor impact on market conditions.
But the talks’ failure does deal a blow to sentiment in the oil market, with which Gulf bourses have been closely correlated over the past six months.
Source: Reuters
