Arab markets slump on region’s unrest

01/03/2011 00:00 AST

Arab stock markets plunged again Monday amid growing unrest in the region. The Saudi All Shares Index sharply pared losses earlier in the day, and was down 0.15 percent to 5,941.63 points near the market’s close. The TASI had fallen 5 percent Sunday in a plunge that had some investors asking for the government to step in an either shut down the exchange or at least limit its hours of operation.

After being initially limited to Bahrain, the unrest that has ravaged the Arab world spread to Oman.

Oman’s benchmark stock index closed down almost 4.9 percent, or at 6,142 points, as protests continued for the third day. In the oil rich emirate of Abu Dhabi, the main index closed down 1.50 percent to 2,508 points while Qatar’s benchmark was off just shy of 3.2 percent to 7,932 points.

Dubai’s benchmark stock index closed sharply lower along with other exchanges in the Gulf, reflecting investor panic over the unrest that has ravaged the Arab region for weeks and shows no signs of abating.

The Dubai Financial Market closed 3.83 percent lower, hitting 1,410 points, and dragging the year-to-date losses to over 13 percent. The benchmark had dropped almost 0.9 percent Sunday with the violence in Libya, as Muammar Gaddafi, the country’s leader, struggled to remain in power.

"Outside of Libya, it is the fate of other regional oil producers that will continue to preoccupy global markets.

"For now, the barometer of political risk for Gulf oil producers will likely remain centered in Bahrain." "And there, pressures do not appear to be cooling, even as protests remain peaceful," Nomura said.

The cost of insuring the debt for many of the Arab nations where protests were continuing climbed Monday, reflecting default concerns.

Already, the anti-regime demonstrations that began in Tunisia have toppled the leaders of that North African nation and Egypt, while also spreading to Libya, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. The unrest has led to downgrades of several of the Arab countries’ sovereign ratings by all three major ratings agencies and has boosted the cost of insuring their debt.

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Saudi Gazette