JEDDAH: The growing unrest in the Middle East has cost Arab stock markets some $24 billion in February. From promising results in January, much of the $24 billion loss this month came Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. However, big loss in Dubai was staved off as Abu Dhabi gained. The combined market capitalization of the Arab region's 14 official bourses slumped to nearly $930 billion Thursday, or a loss of around $24 billion from around $954 billion at the end of January. From around $340.3 billion at the end of January, the market capitalization of Saudi Tadawul stock market plunged to $334.6 billion Wednesday. Qatar's bourse plunged to $112.7 billion from $120.4 billion, while Kuwait shrank to around $116.6 billion from $124.7 billion. Dubai's bourse slipped slightly to around $52.5 billion from $53 billion while Abu Dhabi rebounded to nearly $69 billion from $67.8 billion after a small decline in January. Oman's bourse edged down to $21.3 billion from $21.8 billion while Bahrain's market edged up to $20.8 billion from $20.5 billion despite recent unrest. Elsewhere, Egypt, whose market has been closed most of the time, remained at $71.4 billion. Morocco's Casablanca bourse, another major market outside the Gulf, dropped to around $67.3 billon from $68.5 billon. Jordan's Amman bourse fell to about $29.3 billion from $30.8 billion and Lebanon to $17.6 billion from $18.2 billion. Syria's Damascus bourse slipped to around $3 billion from $3.1 billion. Tunisia, where the unrest started in January, declined slightly to $10 billion from $10.3 billion. Palestinian stock market also retreated slightly to around $3.8 billion from $3.9 billion.
