Middle Eastern Markets Climb With Oil, Stimulus Eyed: Inside EM - Bloomberg

Middle Eastern Markets Climb With Oil, Stimulus Eyed: Inside EM - Bloomberg:

Stocks across the Middle East advanced, taking their cue from Friday’s rally in oil prices and amid further signs that governments are ready to do more to stimulate their virus-battered economies.

Israel’s TA-35 rose as much as 1.1% in Tel Aviv, heading for the first increase in four sessions. The government said after markets closed Thursday that unemployment benefits will remain in place through June 2021 while the jobless rate stays above 10%, as part of a relief program worth about 90 billion shekels ($26 billion).

In Dubai, the main index climbed as much as 0.5% after a new set of economic incentives worth 1.5 billion dirhams ($408.4 million) focused on reinforcing liquidity in companies and reducing the cost of conducting business. Still, S&P Global Ratings expects the city’s gross domestic product to shrink 11% this year amid subdued demand and low oil prices.

Some of Dubai’s new measures are likely to “be made permanent, because the target is to reduce the overall cost of doing business,” said Jaap Meijer, the head of equity research at Arqaam Capital in the emirate. “Even before pre-covid crisis, Dubai had realized the cost of doing business had become too high.”