AMMAN - Arab stock markets tumbled across the board this week, led by the Saudi stock exchange, amid fears that political turmoil could drag on with catastrophic fallout on various aspects of the Arab economy, financial analysts said Friday. The continued closure of the Egyptian bourse added to the uncertainty, with investors expecting Egyptian stocks will dive again when the stock market re-opens, sending a series of negative shocks across the region, they added. 'The sharp decline in the Saudi and other Gulf markets is illogical and unjustifiable,' Nizar Taher, head of brokerage at the Jordan Ahli Bank, told German Press Agency (dpa). 'The plummeting of the Gulf bourses has been prompted by fears that uprisings could spread to the area, but I don't think so because protests there are looked at as sectarian moves which are inspired by Iran,' Taher said referring to the recent demonstrations in Bahrain, Oman and Yemen. He expected this week's plunges on Gulf markets to be short-lived because governments would use accumulated surpluses to reinvigorate markets through various tools of public spending. 'Surging oil prices will in the long term help to prop up regional markets,' Taher said. Saudi shares led the plunge with the Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) of the Arab world's largest stock exchange diving by about 15 per cent this week to close at a two-year low of 5,323.27 points. 'The political developments in the region are apparently putting downward pressure on the Saudi market, but the absence of incentives and confidence-boosting measures has aggravated the decline,' said Saudi analyst Khalid Jawher, a Jawher Investment group executive. He said that the plunge could not be justified, given the high oil prices and the positive performance of listed firms. Jawher suggested that steps should be taken by the country's sovereign funds to prop up prices and restore confidence to investors. Kuwait's KSE all-share index also fell by 5.1 per cent this week, closing at 6,147 points. In addition to geopolitical factors, Kuwaiti stocks also came under further pressure from news about the failure of a multi- billion-dollar dollar deal involving the sale of a 46-per-cent stake in Kuwait's Zain mobile group to the United Arab Emirates telecommunications firm Etisalat. The benchmarks of the UAE stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi also shed 8.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent this week, to close respectively at 1,352 points and 2,529 points. The Qatar stock exchange also sank 8.7 per cent, to close at 7,489 points. The all-share index of the Bahrain and Muscat bourses lost 3.8 per cent and 4.4 per cent, closing week respectively at 1,377 points and 6,352 points. The benchmark of the Amman Stock Exchange fell 1.8 per cent this week, to close at 2,214 points.
