All of the regional markets ended their trading activity over the course of last week in the positive territory with Saudi Arabia leading with a rise of 4.37 per cent, while breaking its 7,000-resistance level, a report said.

The upward trend was followed by Qatar +2.05 per cent then Egypt +1.72 per cent and Dubai and Abu Dhabi +1.11 per cent and +0.84 per cent respectively, added the study by Al Masah Capital, a top alternative asset management and advisory firm.

Over the Opec decision to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) effective at the beginning of January coupled with the Russian stating their output reduction by around 300,000 bpd had its positive effect on the black gold, the report said.

Oil is back again to 2016 highs, witnessed back in August, reaching $54.46 towards the end of last week.

With the strong correlation between regional markets and oil prices, regional markets are expected to follow the same path with UAE being the lead as it has been trading in a very thin band for a while now. – TradeArabia News Service