Thursday, 26 March 2015 18:42
KUWAIT CITY: Stock markets in the Gulf states dived on Thursday on fears from Saudi Arabia’s air strikes on Huthi Shiite rebels in neighbouring Yemen, analysts said.
The Saudi market, the largest in the region, and the Dubai Financial Market led the slide, amid a massive sell-off over fears of a possible confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The Saudi Tadawul All-Shares Index lost 4.0 percent at the start of trading, diving below the 8,500-point mark. But the TASI recovered slight and was trading down 1.8 percent at 8,705.0 points.
Dubai shares dived more than 6.0 percent at the start, but at mid-session the index was trading down 3.5 percent at 3,313.55 points.
“There has been a massive sell-off by investors because of fears the strikes may escalate into a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” Mohammad Zidan, chief market strategist at Kuwait’s Orbex Brokerage, told AFP.
“Any fears about Iran normally strongly impact investors in the Gulf,” Zidan said.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners launched air strikes Thursday on the rebels in Yemen.
Iran described the intervention as “a dangerous step” that violated “international responsibilities and national sovereignty”.
The United Arab Emirates’ second bourse in Abu Dhabi lost around 2.0 percent at the opening but regained some of the losses. At mid-session, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange index was down 1.75 percent at 4,295.0 points.
The Qatar Exchange, the second largest in the Gulf, dived 3.5 percent at the opening but regained most of the losses. The index was trading at 11,337.68 points, down 1.4 percent.
The Kuwait Stock Exchange shed 2.6 percent to 6,212.0 points, while the tiny Muscat Securities Market and Bahrain bourse lost 2.5 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2015
