Overview

• Spot gold held near $3,851 an ounce after a record $3,896, setting up a seventh straight weekly gain on expectations of further U.S. rate cuts and uncertainty from a U.S. government shutdown.
• Markets are pricing another 25-basis-point Fed cut this month, even as Dallas Fed President Lori Logan urged caution after last month’s easing.
• Brent traded near $64.29 and WTI $60.67, with weekly losses of about 8.3% and 7.6% respectively, as Reuters sources said OPEC+ may consider raising output by up to 500,000 bpd in November.
• UAE non-oil PMI rose to 54.2 in September from 53.3, the strongest in seven months, with new orders jumping to 57.2 and employment growth at the fastest pace since May; Dubai’s PMI also printed 54.2.
• UAE equities drew strong Q3 foreign net buying of roughly AED 6.6 billion on liquidity of AED 128.6 billion, while Egypt’s central bank delivered a fourth 100 bp cut this year, trimming the deposit rate to 21% as inflation eased to 12% in August.