Gulf bourses dive as coronavirus hits oil price

Dubai, Mar 1 (AFP) Stock markets in the oil-rich Gulf states plunged Sunday over fears about the impact of the coronavirus which also battered global bourses last week The crisis threatens to undercut Gulf economies, which are already battling a downturn and struggling to wean themselves from their decades-old addiction to energy revenues.

The Saudi bourse, the region's largest and one of the world's top 10 equity markets, closed down 3.7 per cent to its lowest level in 18 months Energy giant Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest listed firm, dropped 2.1 per cent to 32.65 riyals (USD 8.70), its worst performance since listing to much fanfare on December 11 in a record-breaking IPO.

The other five markets operating Sunday in the region, which were closed the previous two days for the Muslim weekend, were also hit badly as oil prices sagged below USD 50 a barrel The region's slide was led by the Kuwait Bourse, where the All-Share Index fell 10 per cent, triggering its automatic closure. Kuwait's bourse was closed for most of last week for national holidays.

The Dubai Financial Market dipped 4.5 per cent, while its sister market in Abu Dhabi was down 3.6 per cent at the close of trading, both one-year lows Bahrain's bourse ended 3.4 per cent down and the Muscat Securities Market in Oman finished down 1.2 per cent, in a dismal day for the Gulf Cooperation Council bloc.

"GCC equities witnessed a downfall as panic over coronavirus spread across the region," M.R. Raghu, head of research at Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz), told AFP "Initial expectations that the outbreak would be contained within China have proved elusive," he said.

At least 115 cases of the coronavirus have been reported by the Gulf states to date, with the majority of infections among people returning from pilgrimages to Iran. (AFP) AD