Most Gulf stocks tumbled on Tuesday, with Dubai suffering its biggest one-day decline for seven months and other indexes claiming similar milestones. Slumping global equities and sliding oil prices spurred regional investors to sell. Saudi Arabia lost 2.27 percent to slide to an eight-week closing low at 5,578.95 points. Market and GCC bellwether SABIC closed almost in line with the Tadawul index at SR66.50 (off 2.21 percent). Banks took a hit as well: Alinma Bank, being most actively traded in relation to volume, ended 1.51 percent lower at SR13.05. Islamic bank Al Rajhi closed at SR61.75 (off 3.52 percent). The advance -decline- ratio stood at 10 to 111, with Ash-Sharqiyah Development Co. posting the largest profit (up 5.08 percent at SR49.60). Dubai's index fell 5.9 percent to 1,839 points, its largest decline since Nov. 16. Abu Dhabi's index fell 3.2 percent to 2,657 points. In Bahrain, the measure dropped 0.2 percent to 1,620 points. In Qatar, the measure slipped 1.8 percent to 6,439 points as Industries Qatar dropped 3.4 percent. In Oman, the index fell 1.2 percent to 5,746 points, its biggest one-day loss for two weeks. However, in Kuwait, the index edged up 0.2 percent to 8,068 points. “It will take something major to get people back into the market and change the current trading pattern,” said Sanyalaksna Manibhandu, Emaar Saudi Financial Services head of research. Emaar Properties fell 8.8 percent, which means it has lost more than a quarter of its value in a little over a week. Sharp declines in world stocks overnight and early morning soured sentiment regionally, with slumping oil prices adding to the negative mood. “I would expect weakness on the open to be seen as an opportunity rather than cause for panic,” said Matthew Wakeman, EFG-Hermes managing director for cash and equity-linked trading. This optimism was not universal, with some analysts predicting stocks will continue to drift downwards for the rest of the summer, albeit with the occasional rise. “Investors are saying ‘we made money in the rally, so let's sell now to protect our profits and wait to see what happens', rather than being involved in the market for the next couple of months,” said Youssef Kassantini, head of discretionary portfolio management at Rasmala Investment Saudi. Between March 9 and June 14, Qatar's index surged 70 percent, Saudi Arabia and Dubai each increased by more than a third and the Abu Dhabi, Oman and Kuwait benchmarks all made double digit gains.
