Most Gulf bourses bounce back

DUBAI: Gulf bourses recovered some of their losses Monday as they appeared to have mostly absorbed the shock of the historic downgrading of US credit rating which has sent global markets tumbling.

The Abu Dhabi Securities exchange opened up 0.23 percent at 1,478.68 points, after it had fallen 2.3 percent on Sunday. It increased its gains by midday to 0.34 percent.

The Dubai Financial Market recovered slightly by midday, edging up 0.66 percent after it had opened down 0.38 percent -- a moderate drop compared to its Sunday close 3.69 percent weaker.

Emaar Properties, the developer of Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, saw its share back in the green at 0.69 percent up after trading earlier down 0.6 percent. It shed 5.26 percent the day before.

The Saudi stock market also opened positively, increasing 0.44 percent and maintaining its recovery which it began before closing on Sunday.

The Saudi stock market had regained on Sunday its balance after being the first market globally hit by a sell-off when Standard & Poor's cut its credit rating for the United States from the top notch triple-A to AA+.

The Tadawul All-Shares Index closed on Sunday with a 0.08 percent rise at 6,078.05 points after the largest Arab bourse shed 5.46 percent of its value on Saturday.

The Kuwaiti Stock Exchange traded 0.11 percent up around midday Monday

after it had closed on Sunday 1.61 percent down at 5,927.8 points.

The Qatar Exchange, which has overtaken Kuwait as the second largest Arab bourse, reduced its losses to 0.45 percent by midday after it had closed 2.51 percent down at 8,277.61 points.

Oman's Muscat Securities market also remained in the red, trading 1.57 percent down after it had closed 2.08 percent down at 6,150.19 on Sunday.

Asian markets tumbled on Monday while several European markets dropped at opening before recovering some of their losses after the European Central Bank said that it would support the market for bonds issued by distressed eurozone countries.

The combination of the eurozone debt problem and Standard & Poor's downgrade of the US credit rating led to frantic talks between financial chiefs and central bankers of the G7 and European Central Bank at the weekend as they tried to prevent another day of market turmoil.

Global markets dived Friday -- before the S&P late-Friday announcement -- after a fresh batch of weak US economic data and a warning from the head of the European Commission that the eurozone crisis had likely spread to other economies.

S&P on Friday cut the US debt rating to AA+ with a negative outlook from the top-notch triple-A for the first time.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010