Stock markets in Gulf Cooperation Council countries experienced declines on Wednesday at the beginning of May, due to a combination of factors including the fall in oil prices and investors’ anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates. In the UAE, both the Abu Dhabi and Dubai market indexes fell, with the former dropping 0.39% and the latter falling 0.54%. Meanwhile, the Saudi TASI index also decreased by 0.4%, with most sectors showing declines.
Meanwhile, preliminary estimates indicated that Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product declined by 1.8% on an annual basis in the first quarter, primarily due to ongoing impacts from the decrease in oil activities. In Kuwait, the general index of the Kuwait Stock Exchange fell by 0.36%, while trading activity saw the exchange recording 198.7 million shares traded through 12,139 cash transactions, worth 37.9 million dinars.
In observance of Labor Day, the Bahrain Stock Exchange and Bahrain Clear were closed on Wednesday but will resume operations on Thursday. The Qatari index also fell by 0.2%, influenced by declines in Qatar Islamic Bank shares by 1.1% and Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding shares by 3.4%. The Muscat Stock Exchange “30” index experienced a 0.36% decrease to 4767