DUBAI: Gulf stock markets closed mixed on Sunday as escalating military exchanges between the US and Iran rattled investor confidence.
Iran launched missile and drone strikes against US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain early Sunday, following President Donald Trump’s warning that he would destroy the country’s leadership if they violated their interim peace accord.
The attacks cap a weekend of escalating regional violence that threatens to derail the fragile peace agreement. Just a day after agreeing to a new ceasefire, Israel struck Iran-backed Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, while the US launched fresh airstrikes on Iran following an Iranian attack on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index lost 0.2 percent, hit by a 1.2 percent slide in the country’s biggest lender by assets Saudi National Bank and a 3 percent decline in ACWA Power Co .
However, oil major Saudi Aramco advanced 1.8 percent - snapping an eight-session losing streak.
Separately, a helicopter belonging to Aramco crashed on Sunday in Ras Tanura on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast on the Gulf, killing 14 nationals, the state news agency reported, adding that the cause was unknown.
In Qatar, the index edged 0.1 percent higher, helped by a 0.7 percent rise in the Gulf’s biggest lender Qatar National Bank .
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index retreated 2.1 percent, as most of its constituents were in negative territory including Commercial International Bank, which was down 2 percent.
Egypt has granted four state-owned companies preliminary listings as part of the government’s privatisation programme, the cabinet said on Sunday.
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