MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf moves sideways despite oil tumble, banks boost Egypt | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf moves sideways despite oil tumble, banks boost Egypt | Reuters:

Gulf stock markets largely moved sideways on Wednesday despite Brent oil’s decline below $50 a barrel for the first time since July 2017, while Egypt’s blue-chip index rose sharply, led by rebounding bank shares.

Oil’s 15 percent tumble this month, if sustained, threatens major damage to the state finances of most Gulf countries, which could reduce governments’ ability to spend and could revive investor concerns about their financial stability.

But Gulf stock markets have held up relatively well in the last several weeks, outperforming MSCI’s emerging market index . The Saudi stock index slid just 0.1 percent on Wednesday, as did Qatar’s index.