Mideast Stock Markets Plunge
Middle East Feels the Pain of Cheap Oil, Equities Rout
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Dubai led a retreat in Middle Eastern stocks that drove Saudi Arabia’s index into a bear market, extending last week’s global selloff, as crude’s decline to a six-year low reverberated through a region dependent on oil and gas exports.
The DFM General Index lost as much as 7.5 percent, the most this year. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index tumbled 6.9 percent, taking its decline since 2015’s peak in April to 24 percent. Qatar’s QE Index fell 5.3 percent, while Israel’s TA-25 Index lost 4.1 percent. Egypt’s EGX 30 Index slid the most since November 2012. Gauges in Abu Dhabi and Oman declined more than 10 percent since a recent peak, the threshold for a market correction.