The Bahrain Bourse (BHB) All Share Index yesterday closed at 1,970.96 points, marking a decrease of 0.21 points below the previous closing.
This decrease was due to the drop in the financial sector and the materials sector.
Bahrain Islamic Index closed at 940.05 points, marking a decrease of 0.52 points below the previous closing.
Results indicated that 91 equity transactions took place with a volume of 3,999,147 worth BD797,589.
Investors traded mainly in the financial sector, representing 91.48 per cent of the total value of securities traded.
Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index continued its upward movement for the second day, as it gained 4.31 points or 0.04pc to close at 11,596.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was 5.82 billion Saudi riyals ($1.55bn), with 82 of the listed stocks advancing and 171 declining.
The kingdom’s parallel market, Nomu, however, shed 113.94 points or 0.44pc to close at 25,689.28.
The MSCI Tadawul Index edged up by 0.25pc to 1,510.45.
The best-performing stock on the main market was Abdullah Saad Mohammed Abo Moati for Bookstores Company. The firm’s share price increased by 4.97pc to 49.80 riyals.
The share price of Al Mawarid Manpower Company rose by 4.38pc to 138.10 riyals.
Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company also saw its stock price climb by 4.37pc to 8.59 riyals.
Conversely, the share price of Naseej International Trading Company declined by 8.25pc to 71.15 riyals.
Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Company, also known as Cenomi Retail, also saw a decline with its share price dropping by 3.69pc to 25.04 riyals.
On the announcements front, Balady Poultry Company said that it signed two land lease agreements with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture for a period of 19 Hijri years – approximately 18 years and six months.
Under the contract, the company secured two land plots in Wadi Al Dawasir, Riyadh, spanning an area of 27.7 million metres and 23m metres, for an annual rent of 222,619 riyals and 190,274 riyals, respectively.
Through this investment, the firm aims to ramp up the production of broiler chickens, with most barns expected to be dedicated to the production of heavy-weight broiler chickens.
Balady Poultry Company said that the move aligns with the firm’s wider strategy to expand the poultry business with investments exceeding 1.14bn riyals.
The share price of Balady Poultry Company edged up by 1.64pc to 154.50 riyals.
Most stock markets in the Gulf closed higher yesterday, propelled by higher expectations of US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and anticipation of third-quarter earnings reports, although gains were moderated by renewed US-China trade tensions.
Investors are awaiting Fed chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the NABE annual meeting later in the day for cues into the central bank’s policy path.
Traders expect a 99pc and 94pc chance of a 25-basis-point cut in October and December, respectively.
Dubai’s main share index jumped 1.4pc, buoyed by a 3pc gain in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties, and a 3.8pc gain in top lender Emirates NBD.
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark index inched 0.1pc higher.
Oil prices – a catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets – fell by more than 2pc as trade tensions flare between the US and China, the world’s two biggest economies, and after the International Energy Agency raised the prospect of increased supplies and weaker demand growth.
The Qatari index declined 0.8pc, hit by a 2.2pc fall in the Gulf’s biggest lender, Qatar National Bank.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index finished 0.1pc higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59.24 points, or 0.13pc, to 46,008.34, the S&P 500 fell 34.74 points, or 0.52pc, to 6,619.98 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 229.87 points, or 1.01pc, to 22,464.74.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 5.17 points, or 0.53pc, to 975.92.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.35pc, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 7.25 points, or 0.32pc.
Emerging market stocks fell 13.50 points, or 1.00pc, to 1,339.81. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed lower by 1.08pc, to 694.99, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 1,241.48 points, or 2.58pc, to 46,847.32.
US crude fell 1.92pc to $58.35 a barrel and Brent fell to $62.04 per barrel, down 2.02pc on the day.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.11pc to 99.19, with the euro up 0.18pc at $1.1589.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.2pc to 151.97.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 3.45pc to $111,804.60. Ethereum declined 7.14pc to $3,983.21.
Gold broke past $4,100, boosted by rising expectations of rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve and safe-haven demand arising from the latest salvo in the Washington-Beijing trade spat.
Spot gold rose 0.47pc to $4,129.56 an ounce. US gold futures rose 0.32pc to $4,121.80 an ounce.
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