Most Gulf Markets End Higher, Brushing Off Trump’s Tariff Threats
Trump upped his trade rhetoric on Tuesday with a 50% tariff on copper and renewed his threat on semiconductor and pharmaceutical tariffs
LONDON: Most Gulf stock markets rebounded to close positive territory on Wednesday, with investors largely unfazed by a new round of tariff threats from Donald Trump, the former president of the US.
Trump upped his trade rhetoric on Tuesday with a 50% tariff on copper and renewed his threat on semiconductor and pharmaceutical tariffs.He also reaffirmed his intent to introduce 10% tariffs on goods from Brazil, India, and other BRICS nations.
Saudi Arabia's main equity index fell by 0.1%, mainly due to a 3.1% drop in ACWA Power, the state utilities giant, and a 0.9% drop from state oil giant Saudi Aramco.
The main equity index in Dubai rose by 0.7%, marking another 17-year high. This was mostly supported by Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corp (Empower), which rose a whopping 3.6%, after announcing it signed a non-binding agreement with Crypto.com, which allows crypto+ payments.
The UAE is quickly becoming a burgeoning regional cryptocurrency hub, as payments acceptance is burgeoning from several pre-established sectors -- real estate, education, and transportation.
Abu Dhabi's index also closed up today, gaining 0.4%, taking it's winning streak to six days. Abu Dhabi National Insurance Co. rose 6.4% today after it received regulatory approval for its branch outside the country's border in India.
Qatar’s benchmark index ended the day unchanged.
In other regions - outside the Gulf - Egypt's blue chip index closed up 0.4%. Commercial International Bank was up, pushing the index up 0.6%. The index resumed trading after a one day suspension from trading due to technical issues. Earlier in the week, a fire in a telecoms data center in Cairo disrupted brokerage communications with the exchange.
