Gulf stock markets may face more pressure on Tuesday after oil prices fell again and global equities slipped.
Brent oil futures hit a six-month closing low of $48.74 per barrel on Monday, hurt by news of an April-June economic contraction in Japan, the world's third biggest consumer of oil. On Tuesday, Brent has slipped 0.3 percent in Asian trade.
MSCI's indexes of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan and emerging markets have edged down 0.5 and 0.3 percent respectively.
Middle East bourses had reacted little to the decline of oil prices throughout the first two summer months when many investors were away on holiday, but they began adjusting to the new environment in August.
Saudi Arabia's main stock index has led the decline in the Gulf, tumbling 7.3 percent this month. The market in Egypt, which is not part of the Gulf but has close economic ties with it, has fallen just as much.
Bourses in the United Arab Emirates and Oman have all lost about 4 to 5 percent, while Kuwait and Qatar have been more resilient and lost less than 1 percent each.
Qatar, in particular, has been buoyed by the quarterly MSCI emerging markets index review, in which the index compiler decided to increase the weightings of two local stocks, Ezdan Holding and Commercial Bank of Qatar.
Dubai's index, which last closed at 3,927 points, is just above technical support at 3,913 points, its May low. Any clean break below that level would trigger a triple top formed by the highs since April and pointing down to the 3,600-point area.
Egypt's index, last at 7,594 points, is near chart support at its July low of 7,527 points.
