Stocks in Saudi Arabia tumble then rebound

Edinburgh News.Net
Saturday 11th October, 2008

The Saudi stock market, the largest in the Arab world, fell 7% in opening trading Saturday, but trimmed losses as the day wore on.

The shock plunge came in the first minute when the Tadawul All-Shares Index dived 450 points. Driving sentiment was the price of oil which has fallen 45% in recent weeks on fears of a global recession.

The Saudi stock market is the largest in the Middle East with a capitalisation of about$320 billion dollars, down from about $450 billion dollars at the end of last year.

Markets in other Gulf states are closed Friday and Saturday, and will re-open Sunday.

Saturday's fall came despite statements by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency on Thursday that it was ready to inject more than $93 billion dollars into the kindgom's banking system.

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