Most stock markets in the Gulf closed lower today, Tuesday, as financial markets were affected by fears of contagion from bank collapse after the collapse of the US Silicon Valley Bank.
The currencies of most Gulf countries are pegged to the dollar, and Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE usually follow the example of any change in monetary policy in the United States.
The Saudi stock market index fell 1% at the close, affected by a 0.8% decrease in the share of Retal Urban Development, and the share of Al-Rajhi Bank 1.1%, according to Reuters.
Reuters quoted an informed source as saying on Monday that Boeing is expected to sell about 80 787 Dreamliners to two Saudi airlines.
And the share of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, “SABIC”, fell 2.7%.
The Dubai index fell 1.5%, continuing losses for the fifth session, with Dubai Islamic Bank falling 3.6%.
The Abu Dhabi index fell 1.8%, driven by a 2.7% decline in First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE’s largest bank.
ADNOC Gas fell 0.4%, a day after a jump of more than 18% from its listing price in its first trading in the market.
ADNOC Gas closed at 2.81 dirhams ($0.7651) per share, compared to an initial public offering price of 2.37 dirhams.
Farah Murad, senior market analyst in the Middle East and North Africa division at XTB, said that the uncertainty in the US banking sector and the subsequent decline in oil prices prompted a price correction in the Abu Dhabi stock market.
The Qatari index fell 1.9% at the close.
Oil prices, a major stimulus for financial markets in the Gulf, fell by more than $2 a barrel, exacerbating the previous day’s decline after the collapse of Silicon Valley bank shook stock markets and raised fears of a new financial crisis.
Outside the Gulf region, the Egyptian blue-chip index fell 0.5%, with the Commercial International Bank falling 2%.
