An investor walks through the Dubai financial market after Joe Biden won the U.S. presidency on November 8, 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. REUTERS/Christopher Pike/File Photo acquire license rights
Dec 10 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia's stock market closed higher on Sunday in response to rising oil prices, although the Qatari index bucked the trend and closed lower.
Oil prices – a catalyst for Gulf financial markets – rose more than 2% on Friday after U.S. data supported expectations of demand growth, but both benchmarks fell for a seventh straight session, their longest weekly decline streak in half a decade, and continued concerns about oversupply.
U.S. job growth accelerated in November, with the Labor Department's jobs report showing nonfarm payrolls rose by 199,000 last month, above the estimate of 180,000 economists polled by Reuters, after rising in October had risen to an uncorrected 150,000. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from its nearly two-year high of 3.9% in October.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI) gained 0.6%, with AL Rajhi Bank (1120.SE) up 2.8% and Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication Co (7040.SE).
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world's two biggest oil exporters, on Thursday called on all OPEC+ members to join an agreement on output cuts, just days after a heated producer club meeting.
Separately, the kingdom's investment minister met China's trade and industry chiefs in Beijing on Sunday and discussed expanding cooperation in trade, investment and technology, Chinese ministries said.
The Qatari benchmark (.QSI) lost 0.7%, weighed down by a 1.7% decline at the Gulf region's largest lender Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA).
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) fell 2%, while Commercial International Bank (COMI.CA) fell 2.3%.
Egypt's presidential election opened on Sunday, with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expected to secure six more years of power.
Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru, Editing by Louise Heavens
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