Oil jumps as Qatar ditched, London attacks hurt sterling
Singapore (Reuters)—Oil jumped after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar on Monday, while sterling slipped after the weekend attacks in London that killed at least seven people and wounded 48, just days before Britain's general national election.
The coordinated move by the Middle Eastern countries, accusing the wealthy Gulf Arab state of supporting terrorism, dramatically escalates a simmering dispute over Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement.
Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest exporter of crude oil. Abu Dhabi in the UAE is also a major oil exporter.
Qatar is the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a major seller of condensate, a low-density liquid fuel and refining product derived from natural gas.
Global benchmark Brent advanced 1.1% to $50.48/bbl. US oil also climbed 1% to $48.17.
Sterling fell as much as 0.3% before paring the losses to trade down 0.2% at $1.2868 on Monday.
(Reporting by Nichola Saminather; Additional reporting by Lisa Twaronite; Editing by Richard Borsuk and Eric Meijer)
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