Gulf bourses close higher as concerns about Omicron recede

Gulf bourses close higher as concerns about Omicron recede

DUBAI (Reuters) - Most Gulf stock markets closed higher on Thursday, as concerns about the mutated omicron from the coronavirus eased after a study suggested the mutant may be less dangerous than thought.

And the research, conducted by Imperial College London and published on Wednesday, said that the risk of patients with the Omicron mutation needing to stay in hospital is between 40 and 45 percent less than those with the Delta mutation.

The main Saudi index rose 0.6 per cent, supported by a 0.9 per cent increase in Al-Rajhi Bank and the closing of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for the petrochemical industry, up 1.4 per cent.

Crude oil prices, a major catalyst for financial markets in the Gulf, have broadly stabilised.

However, concerns about the potential impact of movement restrictions on fuel demand have receded, while OPEC, Russia and their allies have left open the possibility of revising their plan to add 400,000 barrels per day of supply in January.

The main stock index in Dubai rose 0.6 per cent, led by a 3.4 per cent jump in the Emirates NBD Bank, the largest bank in the Emirates, and a 1.1 per cent rise in the Emirates Integrated Telecommunications (du) share.

Farah Murad, senior market analyst in the Middle East and North Africa division at XTP, said the Dubai market remains strong in terms of fundamentals and could recover more broadly once more data is available on Omicron.

The Abu Dhabi index ended a series of losses that lasted four sessions, to close up 0.4 percent, with the share of the telecom company rising 1.2 per cent.

But the Abu Dhabi index recorded a weekly loss of 4.8 per cent, its largest loss since March 2020.

The Qatari index rose 0.1 per cent, supported by a 0.9 percent rise in Qatar National Bank, the largest Gulf bank.

Outside the Gulf region, Egypt's blue-chip index rose 1 per cent after Fawry Company for Banking Technology and Electronic Payments jumped 2.9 per cent after it announced plans to establish a consumer finance company.

And the Central Bank of Egypt said today, Thursday, that it extended the work of measures to mitigate the repercussions of the Corona virus until June 2022.