Gulf Arab exchanges rally on Russia-US accord for Syria

Stock indices from Kuwait to Oman surged on Sunday, erasing almost all losses from the last two weeks after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry sealed an agreement on Saturday in Geneva to solve the crisis in Syria.According to the agreement, Syria is obliged to disclose its chemical weapons to international observers and has to destroy the entire arsenal by mid-2014. The Arab League welcomed the deal and investors in the region hailed the progress by sending Gulf-listed stocks across the board higher.carbon fabric The biggest Gulf market Tadawul in Riyadh,kapton tape Saudi Arabia, advanced 1.78 percent to a two-week high at 8,034.20 points.In Dubai and Qatar, only one share at each market fell in value. The Dubai Financial Market posted the biggest surge in the region, closing 4.78 percent higher at 2,Used excavator638.64 points amid a record-high trading turnover. Shares of Dubai's second developer Union Properties, known as UP, jumped 11.61 percent to hit 0.75 Dirham (0.20 U.S. dollar). Earlier in the day,tire changer the Dubai market authorities halted trading in UP temporarily after the firm failed to disclose the report of a board meeting on time.

The market index of Dubai's international bourse Nasdaq Dubai surged 3.17 percent to reach 2817.52 points. However, market bellwether Dubai Ports (DP) World fell 2.03 percent in value, ending at 15.43 U.S. dollars. Earlier in the day, DP World,crystal light the third biggest maritime port operator globally, said it has become the first port operator in the Middle East to implement the regional security management system standards through achieving an ISO 28000:2007 certification from Lloyd's register quality assurance.In Doha, the Qatar Exchange 20 Index reached like the Saudi gauge a three-week high and ended up 1.70 percent at 9,780.34 points. The country's first lender Qatar National Bank or QNB gained 1.30 percent in value, finishing Sunday trading at 172 Qatar riyal (46.44 U.S. dollars). Earlier in the day, U.S. rating agency Standard and Poor's has affirmed QNB's investment grade "A+ " long-term and "A-1" short-term counterparty credit ratings, with "stable" outlook. S&P also revised its assessment of QNB's risk position to "moderate" from "adequate".Kuwait's KSE market Index added 142.64 points or 1.87 percent, while the Omani MSM-30 Index in Muscat gained 0.73 percent to reach 6,623.09 points.