Gulf markets dip in sign of investor concern after Iran attacks Israel
Gulf markets were down slightly on Sunday, providing an early indication of investor reaction to Iran's unprecedented attack on Israeli territory.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index fell 1.8% in early trading while the main Qatari index was down 1.6%, with Gulf lender QNB leading losses.
Shares in Tel Aviv's broad and blue-chip indexes were flat to marginally lower in early trade.
Iran's retaliatory drone and missile attack in response to a suspected Israeli air strike raises the threat of wider regional conflict. Israel reported modest damage, but the key for investors will be how the conflict unfolds from here.
"If it stays tit-for-tat instead of escalating, then we will likely see a sigh of relief across equities even if oil prices, gold, the dollar, and bonds all embed a risk premium to reflect the conflict," said Brian Jacobson, chief economist at Annex Wealth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Brent crude futures rose 71 cents to $90.45 a barrel on Friday, with prices last week nearing a six-month high on concern that Iran, the third-largest OPEC producer, would attack Israel.
Meanwhile, gold rose above $2,400 an ounce to a record high on Friday, driven by persistent safe-haven demand.
Since Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel invaded Gaza in response, the MSCI's global share index scaled new highs.
Saudi Arabia's main index had risen by about 20% from Oct. 8 until its last close ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holidays on April 4. Qatar's benchmark index fell nearly 0.8% between Oct. 8 and its last close on April 8.
Elsewhere in the region on Sunday, Kuwait's benchmark index was down 0.9%, Oman's index lost 0.2% while Bahrain's main index bucked the downward trend with a 0.9% gain.
Sunday 14 April 2024
Gulf markets dip in sign of investor concern after Iran attacks Israel | Reuters
Gulf markets dip in sign of investor concern after Iran attacks Israel | Reuters
Gulf markets were down slightly on Sunday, providing an early indication of investor reaction to Iran's unprecedented attack on Israeli territory.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (.TASI), opens new tab fell 1.8% in early trading while the main Qatari index (.QSI), opens new tab was down 1.6%, with Gulf lender QNB (QNBK.QA), opens new tab leading losses.
Shares in Tel Aviv's broad (.TA125), opens new tab and blue-chip (.TA125), opens new tab indexes were flat to marginally lower in early trade. Iran's retaliatory drone and missile attack in response to a suspected Israeli air strike raises the threat of wider regional conflict. Israel reported modest damage, but the key for investors will be how the conflict unfolds from here.
"If it stays tit-for-tat instead of escalating, then we will likely see a sigh of relief across equities even if oil prices, gold, the dollar, and bonds all embed a risk premium to reflect the conflict," said Brian Jacobson, chief economist at Annex Wealth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Brent crude futures rose 71 cents to $90.45 a barrel on Friday, with prices last week nearing a six-month high on concern that Iran, the third-largest OPEC producer, would attack Israel.
Meanwhile, gold rose above $2,400 an ounce to a record high on Friday, driven by persistent safe-haven demand.
Since Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel invaded Gaza in response, the MSCI's global share index (.MIWO00000PUS), opens new tab scaled new highs.
Saudi Arabia's main index had risen by about 20% from Oct. 8 until its last close ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holidays on April 4. Qatar's benchmark index fell nearly 0.8% between Oct. 8 and its last close on April 8.
Elsewhere in the region on Sunday, Kuwait's benchmark index (.BKP), opens new tab was down 0.9%, Oman's index lost 0.2% while Bahrain's main index (.BAX), opens new tab bucked the downward trend with a 0.9% gain.
Gulf markets were down slightly on Sunday, providing an early indication of investor reaction to Iran's unprecedented attack on Israeli territory.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (.TASI), opens new tab fell 1.8% in early trading while the main Qatari index (.QSI), opens new tab was down 1.6%, with Gulf lender QNB (QNBK.QA), opens new tab leading losses.
Shares in Tel Aviv's broad (.TA125), opens new tab and blue-chip (.TA125), opens new tab indexes were flat to marginally lower in early trade. Iran's retaliatory drone and missile attack in response to a suspected Israeli air strike raises the threat of wider regional conflict. Israel reported modest damage, but the key for investors will be how the conflict unfolds from here.
"If it stays tit-for-tat instead of escalating, then we will likely see a sigh of relief across equities even if oil prices, gold, the dollar, and bonds all embed a risk premium to reflect the conflict," said Brian Jacobson, chief economist at Annex Wealth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Brent crude futures rose 71 cents to $90.45 a barrel on Friday, with prices last week nearing a six-month high on concern that Iran, the third-largest OPEC producer, would attack Israel.
Meanwhile, gold rose above $2,400 an ounce to a record high on Friday, driven by persistent safe-haven demand.
Since Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel invaded Gaza in response, the MSCI's global share index (.MIWO00000PUS), opens new tab scaled new highs.
Saudi Arabia's main index had risen by about 20% from Oct. 8 until its last close ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holidays on April 4. Qatar's benchmark index fell nearly 0.8% between Oct. 8 and its last close on April 8.
Elsewhere in the region on Sunday, Kuwait's benchmark index (.BKP), opens new tab was down 0.9%, Oman's index lost 0.2% while Bahrain's main index (.BAX), opens new tab bucked the downward trend with a 0.9% gain.
Richest Middle East Families: #Qatar’s Al Thanis Use $150 Billion for Influence - Bloomberg
Richest Middle East Families: Qatar’s Al Thanis Use $150 Billion for Influence - Bloomberg
On a promontory jutting into the Persian Gulf, the Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel is an outlier among the skinny skyscrapers that dominate the skyline of Doha, Qatar’s capital. In 1982 the country’s ruling Al Thani family ordered the construction of the five-star hotel, with its private beach and opulent marble lobby. Today the site functions as both luxury resort and nerve center of crisis diplomacy. Here warring factions from the Taliban and African militias have convened, and diplomats from Russia, the US and Iran have crossed paths in hallways.
The only-in-Qatar milieu embodies how the royal family parlays its wealth into geopolitical influence, most recently as a key mediator for the Israel-Hamas war. The rulers have turned Qatar into a vital energy supplier, prominent investor, World Cup host, university funder and conflict intermediary—occasionally tinged with controversy involving corruption allegations or human-rights concerns. Yet their strategic spending ultimately comes back to one thing: building Qatar into an international brand that can underpin its existence and the family’s longevity.
To finance these ambitions, the Al Thanis have tapped Qatar’s state resources, along with their personal wealth. The royal family’s holdings alone amount to at least $150 billion, according to an estimate by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That figure excludes government money, such as the Qatar Investment Authority’s (QIA) $450 billion in assets, including the Sheraton Grand.
Vulnerable amid powerful neighbors, the Al Thanis are leveraging that wealth and the relationships it fosters to become an indispensable broker among rivals. “They are constantly on the lookout for what their neighbors might do,” says Baraa Shiban, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. The royal family stands out in the Middle East for its willingness, often at US behest, to reach out to countries and groups that America and the rest of the West consider pariahs, Shiban says. “The Al Thanis are different—they are very dynamic, and that’s important,” Shiban says. A host to exiled leaders of Hamas, Qatar has helped facilitate the release of more than 100 Israelis and other hostages seized by the group, considered terrorists by the US and European Union, after it killed some 1,200 people in the brutal Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel.
On a promontory jutting into the Persian Gulf, the Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel is an outlier among the skinny skyscrapers that dominate the skyline of Doha, Qatar’s capital. In 1982 the country’s ruling Al Thani family ordered the construction of the five-star hotel, with its private beach and opulent marble lobby. Today the site functions as both luxury resort and nerve center of crisis diplomacy. Here warring factions from the Taliban and African militias have convened, and diplomats from Russia, the US and Iran have crossed paths in hallways.
The only-in-Qatar milieu embodies how the royal family parlays its wealth into geopolitical influence, most recently as a key mediator for the Israel-Hamas war. The rulers have turned Qatar into a vital energy supplier, prominent investor, World Cup host, university funder and conflict intermediary—occasionally tinged with controversy involving corruption allegations or human-rights concerns. Yet their strategic spending ultimately comes back to one thing: building Qatar into an international brand that can underpin its existence and the family’s longevity.
To finance these ambitions, the Al Thanis have tapped Qatar’s state resources, along with their personal wealth. The royal family’s holdings alone amount to at least $150 billion, according to an estimate by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That figure excludes government money, such as the Qatar Investment Authority’s (QIA) $450 billion in assets, including the Sheraton Grand.
Vulnerable amid powerful neighbors, the Al Thanis are leveraging that wealth and the relationships it fosters to become an indispensable broker among rivals. “They are constantly on the lookout for what their neighbors might do,” says Baraa Shiban, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. The royal family stands out in the Middle East for its willingness, often at US behest, to reach out to countries and groups that America and the rest of the West consider pariahs, Shiban says. “The Al Thanis are different—they are very dynamic, and that’s important,” Shiban says. A host to exiled leaders of Hamas, Qatar has helped facilitate the release of more than 100 Israelis and other hostages seized by the group, considered terrorists by the US and European Union, after it killed some 1,200 people in the brutal Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel.