Business | Markets
Gulf stocks continue fall on negative sentiment
Stock markets continued to fall yesterday across most Gulf countries as concerns of an economic slowdown coupled with heightened tensions over Iran dampened investor sentiment.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:59 August 7, 2008
Dubai: Stock markets continued to fall yesterday across most Gulf countries as concerns of an economic slowdown coupled with heightened tensions over Iran dampened investor sentiment.
All eyes were on oil prices which slipped to three-month lows on Wed-nesday.
Abu Dhabi was the day's biggest loser, falling more than 1 per cent.
"Sentiment in the UAE is not good at the moment," said Alfred Fayek, director Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) institutional sales at EFG-Hermes.
The gloom overshadowed the more-than-doubling of Abu Dhabi National Energy Co's second-quarter profit as the firm's shares fell nearly 3 per cent.
"Its the same atmosphere all over the region," said Samer Al Jouani, general manager of Middle East Financial Brokerage Co in Dubai.
Kuwait and Bahrain were the only markets to end higher. Abu Dhabi's main index closed 1.08 per cent lower at 4,773.98, falling for a fifth trading day.
The market has lost more than 4 per cent this week.
Sorouh Real Estate led the decline slipping 3.56 per cent, while Invest Bank fell the most, crashing 9.87 per cent.
Property shares steered Dubai to a lower close for a fourth trading day.
The index fell 0.55 per cent to 5,250.31 and has lost nearly 3 per cent this week.
Emaar Properties and Union Properties shed 0.95 per cent and 4.99 per cent respectively.
Oman
Muscat fell for a third day as foreign investors continued to bail out of the second-best performing index in the Gulf region.
"There has been a stampede of foreigners getting out of this market," said Jaysh Shah, head of brokerage at Bank Muscat, adding that foreign players accounted for 40 per cent of trading volumes on Wednesday.
The benchmark, which has tumbled more than 6 per cent in the last three trading days, closed 0.78 per cent lower at 10,264.62 points.
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