No winners in Gulf feud as market focus turns to oil prices

Dubai

INVESTORS aren't taking sides in the biggest political crisis in the Gulf in decades because their focus has already returned to oil.

Seven weeks after Saudi Arabia led a coalition of Arab states in cutting ties with Qatar over allegations that it supports terrorism, holders of both countries' stocks and bonds are paying almost identical risk premiums. Their five-year credit default swaps converged for the first time in two years, stocks are valued at about 13.7 times' projected earnings over the next 12 months, and their international bonds traded level on Friday at 3.39 per cent.