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KUWAIT CITY - Arab stock markets tumbled for the fourth day running on Wednesday amid growing fears that policymakers may be powerless to stop the worst financial shock since the Great Depression.
The plunge slashed many more billions from the combined value of regional markets to add to enormous losses chalked up in the past three days as concerns mounted about the impact of the global financial crisis on the oil-rich region.
In all, the seven Arab stock markets in the Gulf had already shed about 150 billion dollars of their capitalisation this week, shrinking their combined value around 800 billion dollars.
Stocks in Saudi Arabia - the largest bourse in the Middle East -- slumped by more than 7.5 per cent, trading below the 6,000-point mark for the first time in more than 52 months.
Minutes after opening on the last day of the trading week, the Tadawul All-Shares Index was at 5,782.03 points, its lowest level since July 2004.
The slide came despite assurances by Mohammad al-Jasser, deputy governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the kingdom's central bank, that Riyadh faces no liquidity problems and is not exposed to the global financial crisis.
On the Dubai Financial Market, shares have lost more than a quarter of their value since the trading week began on Sunday.
The local DFM Index sank another 9.68 per cent to 3,043 after falls of 6.86 per cent on Sunday, 7.6 per cent on Monday and 5.14 per cent on Tuesday to close at 3,369.15 points, its lowest level in more than two years.
Prices of all 27 shares fell, led again by real estate developer Emaar, which shed 10 per cent. The real estate sector as whole was also down 10 per cent, while the financial and investment sector plummeted 12.6 per cent.
The Kuwait Stock Exchange, the second largest in the Arab world, was down 2.8 per cent halfway through trading on concerns of lack of liquidity and global financial meltdown.
In a move reflecting the government's growing concern, the Central Bank of Kuwait cut its discount rate by 1.25 percentage points to 4.5 per cent.
It is the first time in several years that the bank has taken a monetary policy decision that did not follow a move by the the US Federal Reserve.
The last time Kuwait cut its discount rate was in January, and Wednesday's cut was the largest in many years.
The Doha Securities Market Index dropped 8.3 per cent, the biggest single-day drop in gas-rich Qatar's financial market in several years.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange shed 5.44 per cent while the Muscat Securities Market slumped 6.33 per cent and was trading below the 7,000-point mark for the first time in more than two years.
The Qatari Index was trading at 7,471.73 points, below the 8,000-point psychological barrier, for the first time this year. All market sectors dropped.
The Tel Aviv stock exchange was closed on Wednesday, when observance of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, starts at sunset. It will reopen on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Israeli stocks rose, with the TA-25 index up 3.91 per cent after the Bank of Israel announced a 0.5-point cut in its base rate to 3.75 per cent.
- AFP/ir
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