Arab unrest pushes Gulf markets down

KUWAIT CITY: Stock markets in the Gulf states dived on Wednesday as they continued to be impacted by fear from unrest sweeping several Arab countries despite soaring oil prices.

All the seven markets fell, led by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai, but Kuwait also dropped to a six-year low and Dubai Financial Market Index hovered around a seven-year low.

The Saudi Tadawul All-Shares Index, the biggest in the Arab world, was still trading down 5.15 percent in early afternoon dealings. The market closes at 12.30 GMT.

TASI shed 6.8 percent of its value Tuesday, and it has so far slumped 20.6 percent on last year's close.

Kuwait Stock Exchange, the second capitalised Arab bourse, shed 2.6 percent to finish at 6,157.70 points, the lowest since October 2004.

In addition to panic from Arab protests, KSE also fell because of the apparent collapse of a $12-billion deal to sell a stake in market leader Zain telecom. Zain dropped 5.9 percent.

Since the start of the year, KSE has dropped 11.5 percent.

Qatar Exchange dived 3.6 percent to levels seen about a year ago and has shed 11.8 percent on the year.

Dubai Financial Market Index slumped 3.5 percent to 1,374.43 points, the lowest in seven years. The market was pulled down by a six-percent dive by market leader Emaar properties, the developer of the world's tallest tower.

Since the start of the year, Dubai bourse has shed 15.7 percent.

Sister UAE bourse in Abu Dhabi was down 1.9 percent, while Muscat Securities Market lost 1.5 percent and Bahrain Stock Exchange closed one percent lower.