Gulf stocks fall after Fed minutes reveal

Most major Gulf stock markets fell on Thursday, despite a small gain in oil prices, as minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting kept investors cautious about how much further US interest rates could rise.

Minutes from the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting released overnight showed nearly all Federal Reserve policymakers rallied behind a decision to further slow the pace of interest rate hikes at the U.S. central bank’s last policy meeting.

But they also indicated that curbing unacceptably high inflation would be the “key factor” in how much further rates need to rise, reported Reuters.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index (.TASI) fell 0.7% with losses in almost all sectors. Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE) dropped 1.2% while state oil giant and index heavyweight Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) lost more than 0.9% after JP Morgan cut its share target price to 39 riyals from 40 riyals.

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical (2350.SE) fell more than 2%.