By Amna Mariyam
July 8 (Reuters) - Gulf equities ended mixed on Tuesday, with investors exercising caution over U.S. trade policies after President Donald Trump announced steep import levies on several trading partners and pushed the tariff deadline to August 1.
While Gulf economies were spared from immediate measures, Trump had earlier announced plans to impose an additional 10% tariff on countries aligning with the "anti-American policies" of the BRICS bloc, which includes the UAE. Saudi Arabia, while not a BRICS member, attended a BRICS meeting in April.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index .TASI dropped 0.5%, ending a four-day winning streak as most sectors closed in red. ACWA Power Company 2082.SE slid 3.4%, while Al Rajhi Bank 1120.SE fell 0.2%.
Oil prices - a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets -retreated after gaining nearly 2% in the previous session on tariff concerns and a higher-than-expected increase in OPEC+ output planned for August.
Dubai's main share index .DFMGI lost 0.1%, after reaching a 17-year peak the previous day, with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties EMAR.DU dropping 0.7%.
In Abu Dhabi, the index .FTFADGI was marginally up.
Qatar's benchmark index .QSI added 0.3%, supported by a 1.1% rise in the Qatar Islamic Bank QISB.QA.
Meanwhile, Egypt's stock exchange said it had suspended trading on Tuesday, citing ongoing disruptions affecting brokerage firms' ability to communicate efficiently across the trading system, a day after a fire broke out in a telecoms data centre in Cairo.
SAUDI ARABIA | .TASI dropped 0.5% to 11,294 |
ABU DHABI | .FTFADGI added 0.1% to 10,012 |
DUBAI | .DFMGI eased 0.1% to 5,794 |
QATAR | .QSI firmed 0.3% to 10,834 |
BAHRAIN | .BAX was up 0.7% to 1,961 |
OMAN | .MSX30 slipped 0.5% to 4,554 |
KUWAIT | .BKP increased 0.2% to 9,213 |
(Reporting by Amna Mariyam and Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
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