Middle East equity markets surge as economies reopen

Bloomberg

Middle Eastern equity markets mostly rose on Sunday as economies continued to open up from coronavirus lockdowns, with Saudi Arabia leading gains.
The Tadawul All Shares Index climbed as much as 4.1%, before trimming gains to 1.7%. Gauges in Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Oman rose.
Saudi Arabia began the second phase of easing its shutdown on Sunday by resuming domestic flights and shortening curfews. The local market was closed for the Eid-al-Fitr holiday all of last week, when emerging-market assets rose on optimism over the reopening of economies and oil prices advanced.
Gulf equities “are likely to catch up with global markets,” said Iyad Abu Hweij, managing partner at Allied Investment Partners PJSC in Dubai. “The easing of restrictions in domestic markets and recovery in oil prices should also be encouraging and lead to investors taking calculated risk.”
The Tadawul All Share Index rises 1.7% as of 11:00 am local time on Sunday and the stocks added most to the index increase.