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Gulf Markets modestly increase oil prices ahead of US rate announcement

The early trading on Tuesday saw most Gulf stock exchanges rise, boosted by higher oil prices and the growing expectation of a U.S. interest rate cut in this month.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index rose 0.1% during choppy trading as higher oil prices supported the oil-sensitive exchange.

Saudi Arabian Mining, a heavyweight index component, and Saudi Aramco (the oil giant) both advanced by 1.3% and 0.1% respectively.

Oil, a major catalyst for Gulf markets, rose after OPEC+ said it would increase production by fewer percentage points than expected. This boosted sentiment in the entire region.

Dubai's main index rose 0.1% in the UAE. This was aided by a 0.6% increase at Emirates NBD Bank.

The Abu Dhabi Index was up 0.1% as well, thanks to modest gains made by heavyweight stocks that helped partially reverse recent declines.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank gained 0.9% after recovering from a 7.5% drop the previous day -- its steepest one-day decline in more than three years. The bank announced a rights issue of 6.1 billion dirhams priced at a discount of 30%.

Qatar's benchmark index, on the other hand, fell by 0.2% due to losses in financials. Qatar National Bank, the largest lender in the region, fell by nearly 1%.

According to CME FedWatch, investors continue to closely monitor the Fed. Traders have fully priced in a rate cut of 25 basis points and assigned a 10% chance to a 50-bp jumbo cut.

The Fed's position has a lot of weight in the Gulf region, where the majority of currencies are pegged with the U.S. Dollar, thereby anchoring the regional monetary policies. (Reporting and editing by Harikrishnan Nair in Bengaluru, Amna Mariyam from Bengaluru)

(source: Reuters)