Regional shares may rise on steady oil, global cues

Middle East stock markets may rise further on Monday as oil prices hold above $80 per barrel and Asian markets are up on hopes for stimulus in China and Europe.

Most markets in the region rose on Sunday in line with end-of-week gains in global equities, which rallied after China made a surprise interest rate cut and the European Central Bank indicated it would step up asset purchases.

Expectations of fresh foreign fund inflows may also boost stocks in the UAE and Qatar whose weightings in MSCI’s emerging markets index will increase on Tuesday.

Among those are UAE’s Emaar Properties, Dubai Islamic Bank and First Gulf Bank and Qatar's Industries Qatar, Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank and Commercial Bank of Qatar.

Gulf International Services will join the benchmark for the first time.

Passive funds which closely follow the index are most likely to buy those stocks on Tuesday en masse, lifting them temporarily.

Emaar, Dubai’s largest listed developer, will also hold its annual shareholder meeting late on Monday, which is expected to approve a special Dh9 billion ($2.45bn) dividend following the listing of its retail unit, Emaar Malls Group.
 

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