Saudi leads Gulf bourses lower on recession worries

Saudi leads Gulf bourses lower on recession worries

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index, which traded after a session’s break, slid 2.6 per cent, marking its biggest intraday fall since late-June

By Reuters Published: Sun 25 Sep 2022, 6:57 PM

Saudi Arabia’s stock market tumbled on Sunday, leading declines across Middle East, in response to Friday’s fall in energy prices and on fears that aggressive interest rate hikes by major central banks to tame inflation could cause a global recession.

On Friday, MSCI’s world stocks index shed 2.07 per cent to almost two-year lows. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 2.34 per cent, its biggest weekly loss in three months.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index, which traded after a session’s break, slid 2.6 per cent, marking its biggest intraday fall since late-June, weighed down by selling across the board.

Retal Urban Development Co dropped four per cent, while oil behemoth Saudi Aramco finished 2.6 per cent lower.

Crude prices, a key catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets, plunged about five per cent to an eight-month low on Friday as the U.S. dollar hit its strongest level in more than two decades and on fears rising interest rates will tip major economies into recession, cutting demand for oil.

The Saudi index remains exposed to additional price corrections with