dec 27 reuters  most major stock markets in the gulf rose in early trade on tuesday after china announced it would further ease its covid19 restrictions bolstering expectations of a demand recovery in the worlds secondlargest economy china will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine starting from jan 8 the national health commission said on monday it will also downgrade the seriousness of covid as it has become less virulent and will gradually evolve into a common respiratory infection the announcement buoyed other asian markets as well with the msci asia exjapan index miapj0000pus rising 053 saudi arabias benchmark index tasi gained 06 led by a 14 rise in al rajhi bank 1120se and a 11 gain in oil giant saudi aramco 2222se oil prices a key catalyst for the gulfs financial markets rose to threeweek highs as chinas latest easing of covid19 restrictions spurred fuel demand hopes while concerns that winter storms across the united states were impacting energy production continued to support prices separately russian lender sberbank sbermm will be forced to close its office in the united arab emirates early next year first deputy chairman alexander vedyakhin said on monday blaming sanctions pressure the qatari index qsi however bucked the trend to trade 05 lower reporting by ateeq shariff in bengaluru editing by vinay dwivedi