Saudi leads decline in Gulf bourses on growth worries

Saudi leads decline in Gulf bourses on growth worries

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index slid 4.4 per cent, its biggest intraday fall since November 2021, as stocks fell across the board including oil behemoth Saudi Aramco, which retreated four per cent

Saudi men look to a screen showing stock prices at ANB Bank, in Riyadh. — Reuters file photo

By Reuters Published: Sun 19 Jun 2022, 6:42 PM

Stock markets in the Gulf registered steep losses on Sunday, as investors worried that tighter monetary policy by inflation-fighting central banks could damage economic growth.

On Wednesday, the US central bank approved its biggest interest rate hike since 1994, lifting the target federal funds rate by 75 basis points to a range of between 1.5 per cent and 1.75 per cent. Fed officials also see further steady rises this year, targeting a federal funds rate of 3.4 per cent by the year-end.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index slid 4.4 per cent, its biggest intraday fall since November 2021, as stocks fell across the board including oil behemoth Saudi Aramco, which retreated four per cent.

Oil prices, a key catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets, tumbled about six per cent to a four-week low on Friday on worries that interest rate hikes by major central banks could slow the global