Regional Stock Markets Tumble Amid Economic Uncertainty
On Wednesday, stock markets in Gulf Cooperation Council countries experienced declines at the beginning of May. The fall in oil prices and investors’ anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates were attributed to the market downturn. In the UAE, both the Abu Dhabi and Dubai market indexes fell, with the former dropping 0.39% and the latter falling 0.54%. Meanwhile, the Saudi TASI index decreased by 0.4%, with most sectors showing declines.
Preliminary estimates indicated that Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product declined by 1.8% on an annual basis in the first quarter, primarily due to ongoing impacts from the decrease in oil activities. In Kuwait, trading activity saw a general index of the Kuwait Stock Exchange fall by 0.36%, with 198.7 million shares traded through 12,139 cash transactions worth 37.9 million dinars.
In observance of Labor Day, the Bahrain Stock Exchange and Bahrain Clear were closed on Wednesday but will resume operations on Thursday. The Qatari index also fell by 0.2%, influenced by declines in Qatar Islamic Bank shares by 1.1% and Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding shares by 3.4%. The Muscat Stock Exchange “30” index experienced a slight decrease of 0.36% to reach a new high of 4767.23 points, with a trading value of about $2 million Omani riyals for over half a billion shares traded through nearly three thousand transactions.
Outside of the Gulf region, Egypt’s leading stock index rose by an impressive 3
