CAIRO (AFP) - Stock markets in the Middle East and the energy-rich Gulf Arab states nosedived on Tuesday amid a slide in international stock markets on fears of an economic recession in the United States.
Except for Tel Aviv, none of the markets had an opportunity to react to the sharp cut in US interest rates by the Federal Reserve, as they had closed for the day before the news came.
Prior to the Fed announcement, the TA-25 index was down 1.97 percent. By the close, it had clawed back some territory, ending down 1.36 percent at 1,101.96.
The seven bourses in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, which made a remarkable recovery last year, lost most of their gains on a nervous trading day.
The slide was led by the Saudi stock market, the largest in the Arab world, with the Tadawul All-Shares Indext shedding 9.7 percent to finish below the 10,000-point psychological barrier at 9,338.54 points. The maximum allowed drop in a single day is 10 percent.
"The drop in international markets is certainly the main reason for the sharp slide in Gulf stock markets, mainly the Saudi market," said Saudi economist Abdulwahab Abu-Dahesh.
"Fears of an economic recession in the United States and the likelihood it may impact European and Asian economies have unnerved investors in the Gulf," Abu-Dahesh told AFP.
During the past two weeks, the Saudi market has shed about 20 percent.
Dubai Financial Market fell 6.2 percent to finish on 5,210.58 points, mainly because of sharp declines in the telecom and transport sectors which both plunged by more than 10 percent.
DFM Index is down 12.2 percent on its 2007-end close of 5,931.95 points and way below its all-time high of 8,484.60 points set in November 2005.
The other United Arab Emirates market, Abu Dhabi Securities Market shed 6.8 percent to close at 4,302.46 points, pulled down by real estate and energy sectors which crumbled by 9.3 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.
ADSM index, which finished 2007 up 51.7 percent, is now 5.5 percent lower than last year's close. It also remains well below its all-time peak of 6,238.00 points set in May 2005.
Qatar's Doha Securities Market (DSM) shed 7.76 percent to close on 9,151.93 points.
The DSM index, which rose 34.3 percent last year, has now slipped 4.5 percent below its end of 2007 close of 9,580.45 points and well below its all-time peak of 12,892.80 points of September 2005.
The tiny Muscat Securities Market dropped 8.33 percent to 8,916.92 points, but the Kuwait and Bahrain stock markets recorded only slight drops.
Kuwait Stock Exchange index dropped just 1.6 percent to 13,117.10 points. Although the index is up 4.4 percent on last year's close of 12,558.90 points, it remains below its all-time high of 13,436.20 points set on January 16.
Bahrain stock market lost one percent to close on 2,793.40 points.
The six nations together pump some 15 million barrels of crude daily.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Egyptian shares fell sharpy, but came off their lows for the day.
The benchmark CASE-30 index of the Cairo and Alexandria Bourse fell 3.26 percent to 9,575.48, recovering from a low for the day of 9,422.00, after having suffered its worst losses since 2006 on Sunday and Monday.
Lebanese shares tumbled, with the benchmark BLOM stock index down 3.17 percent at 1,422.37, following a 2.66 percent slide on Monday.
Shares in property giant and market leader Solidere sank 5.79 percent to 20.64 dollars.
No comments:
Post a Comment