Reuters Middle Eastern stock markets sank on Sunday in response to the tumble on Wall Street on February 2, after US data showed the strongest annual wage growth since 2009 and raised the risk of more interest rate hikes than expected this year. The Saudi index dropped 0.6 percent with falling shares outnumbering gainers by 105 to 74. Saudi Arabian …

Bloomberg Crude production by OPEC and its main ally Russia held steady last month as increases in Saudi Arabia and Iran offset the ongoing deterioration of Venezuela’s oil industry. Output from the 14 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose just 20,000 barrels a day to 32.4 million a day in January, according to a Bloomberg News survey …

Bloomberg Iran can swiftly increase production of crude if OPEC decides to scrap limits on global output when the group meets next in June, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said. The Persian Gulf nation can raise daily production by at least 100,000 barrels within “five or six days” if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decides that crude prices are …