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Gulf bourses drop ahead of Fed speech

Investors waited to hear what Jerome Powell, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair, would say at a major conference later this week about the direction of interest rates.

Powell's Friday speech at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium is the focus of traders, who are looking for any pushback on market expectations that a rate reduction will be coming next month.

The dollar is the most common currency in Gulf markets.

The benchmark index in Qatar fell 0.6% due to declines across the board. Qatar National Bank, which is the largest lender in the region, decreased by 1%, while Qatar Navigation dropped 1.6%.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index fell by 0.2% with the majority of constituents falling. Saudi Basic Industries fell 2.9%, while oil giant Saudi Aramco dropped 1.1%.

Dubai's benchmark index fell by 0.2%, with the majority of sectors showing a red color. Emirates Central Cooling Systems dropped by 1.2% and Emirates NBD fell by 1.3%. The largest lender, ENBD, issued a Dim Sum bond of 1 billion renminbi (139 million dollars) over a three-year period on Tuesday. It yielded 2.4%.

Multiply Group's 2.7% increase and Aldar Properties' 0.8% gain boosted the Abu Dhabi benchmark index by 0.1%. Alpha Dhabi, a conglomerate, and ADNOC Logistics fell by 1% and 0.9%.

(source: Reuters)