Middle East equities rose as optimism surrounding the acceleration in global coronavirus vaccinations outweighed a rise in U.S. yields that may signal the return of inflation.
Israel’s TA-35 climbed as much as 1.2%, while benchmark stock indexes in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Egypt also made gains.
“We see higher inflation expectation as positive for the cyclical parts of emerging markets, such as the MENA region, especially when these expectations are driven by a rebound in the global economic growth which should propel earnings growth,” said Divye Arora, money manager at Daman Investments Psc in Dubai. “However, we are also watchful of the pace of increase of 10-year US treasury yields.”
In another boost to risk sentiment, global coronavirus vaccinations reached more than 202 million in a little more than two months since the first shots were delivered, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. Moreover, the Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE vaccine appeared to stop the vast majority of recipients in Israel becoming infected, providing the first real-world indication that the immunization will curb transmission of the coronavirus.
- Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index closes 0.7% higher after climbing as much as 0.9%, with Al Rajhi Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. rising the most
- Dubai Financial Markets General Index closes 0.3% lower after falling as much as 0.7%
- Emaar Properties -0.8%; Damac Properties -2.5%; Du -0.5%
- Abu Dhabi’s ADX closes 0.2% higher
- Etisalat leads gains, trading 0.8% higher
- Kuwait Premier Market little-changed
- Agility drops 0.6% after announcing 6.5 million dinar impact on revenue following a court decision
- NOTE: Kuwait extended a decision to impose a ban on entry of all foreigners to the country, Kuwait Times reported, citing the civil aviation authority
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