By Federico Maccioni and Alun John

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) -Gulf markets dropped barely on Sunday, an early indication of investor response to Iran’s unprecedented assault on Israeli territory, as traders ready for buying and selling in most markets to renew Monday, with eyes notably on oil.

Exercise could possibly be uneven, since merchants are additionally digesting final week’s world macro financial knowledge, most significantly hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark inventory index closed down 0.3%, rebounding from an earlier, bigger decline whereas the principle Qatari index was down 0.8%.

Shares in Tel Aviv’s broad index rose 0.3%.

Iran launched explosive drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday in retaliation for a suspected Israeli assault on its consulate in Syria, and warned Israel and america on Sunday of a “a lot bigger response” if there may be any retaliation.

Israel mentioned “the marketing campaign is just not over but”.

“The query turns into does Israel search to broaden the battle?, that’s the wild card,” mentioned Tina Fordham, geopolitical strategist at Fordham International Foresight in London, including she expects oil to open greater on Monday.

Oil costs have been already being supported final week by concern of a response from Iran, serving to ship world benchmark on Friday to $92.18 a barrel, the best since October.

Some haven belongings additionally gained on Friday with merchants cautious about being uncovered to weekend developments when markets are closed. The benchmark , which strikes inversely to its value, fell practically 8 foundation factors, its largest each day drop in a month. [US/]

In the meantime, gold rose above $2,400 an oz., the newest in a succession of file highs. [GOL/]

, one of many few belongings buying and selling across the clock, dropped 8% in round 20 minutes to beneath $62,000 round 2000 GMT on Saturday roughly when reviews emerged that the assault was underway.

It has since regained some floor and was final buying and selling round $64,500.

FRAGILE ENVIRONMENT

Geopolitics is not going to be the one factor on traders’ minds on Monday nonetheless.

“The newsflow is about Iran and Israel, so that’s going to be most of (what individuals shall be discussing Monday), however we’re nonetheless in an surroundings the place we haven’t but digested the U.S. inflation information and what which means for the Federal Reserve,” mentioned Samy Chaar, Geneva-based chief economist at Lombard Odier on Sunday.

“We got here into this weekend of geopolitical stress within the aftermath of the CPI report. It’s a fragile market surroundings within the quick time period, however after a improbable interval, so it’s only honest that there’s a little bit of vulnerability.”

Since Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel invaded Gaza in response, MSCI’s world share index scaled new highs, helped by resilient financial knowledge, notably in america and expectations main central banks will minimize rates of interest.

Saudi Arabia’s principal index has risen by about 20% from Oct. 8. Qatar’s benchmark index is buying and selling at across the similar degree as Oct. 8.

And with geopolitics only one, hard-to-predict issue to contemplate, some worldwide traders are specializing in the broader financial image.

“I’m not going to be an armchair common and faux that I’ve an edge on how the escalation will play out,” mentioned Nick Ferres, chief funding officer at Vantage Level Asset Administration in Singapore.

“From our perch, the extra essential information for markets final week was the development re-acceleration in shopper value inflation and the implication for the trail of future quick time period rates of interest.”