Saudi Arabia's main index ended 4.01 per cent lower at 7,802.25 points in trading yesterday, its lowest close in almost a year.
The negative sentiment that has swept across Gulf markets in the past few weeks, coupled with the global economic slowdown that has seen some of the world's largest banks write off billions and even collapse, hit the Tadawul hard, seeing the market slide to its lowest point since last October.
Riyad Bank was the biggest loser, falling 5.67 per cent, while Al Jazira Bank slid 2.43 per cent.
As soon as the Saudi bourse opened, falls in share prices began to appear. Analysts suggested that the adoption of a new ruling, which meant that companies' stock prices would rise and fall in smaller increments, was a major factor. Banks led the early declines, with Al Rajhi Bank easing 0.25 per cent and Riyad Bank 0.30 per cent.
At this early stage, the index fell 0.05 per cent to 8,123.72 points, but as the day progressed, things worsened. At 11.30am, Saudi Arabia's bourse was down a dramatic 3.07 per cent to 7,878.54 points.
Police investigations into Dubai's property market have sent property shares falling, which in turn helped drive Gulf stock markets lower last week. Banks continued to lead the decline in Saudi Arabia, with Al Rajhi Bank and Samba Financial falling 2.39 per cent and 3.55 per cent respectively. Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), Saudi's largest company by market value, could not escape the gloom and saw shares drop by 3.28 per cent.
"It's mainly due to negative sentiment. There is no direct reason why the market is going down," said Hesham Tuffaha, the head of research at Bakheet Investment Group, based in Riyadh. Analysts also suggested that the slide was in part due to the bourse's adoption of smaller increments for stock price changes, a move which it said would reflect price changes, liquidity and volumes in a more practical manner. "It will be more efficient for pricing and will boost liquidity into the market," Mr Tuffaha said.
Every Gulf market has seen shares tumble in the past few weeks. On Tuesday, the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) fell 2.58 per cent, taking its losses this year to 26.4 per cent, while the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) fell 2.23 per cent, leaving its loss so far this year at 10.16 per cent.
Last Sunday, the DFM fell 4.6 per cent, wiping out Dh13.68 billion (US$3.7bn) of shareholders' money, while the ADX plummeted 3.7 per cent, shrinking its market capitalisation by Dh15.68bn. In the past week alone, Dh52bn was wiped off UAE stocks, taking the markets back to the levels of last October.
More than Dh65.7bn worth of capitalisation has been wiped from the markets since the beginning of this month, with most analysts and observers blaming the withdrawal of foreign investors for the downwards trend, given the continuous net sales in their positions.
Dubai has suffered most because of the latest corruption investigation to hit the beleaguered housing sector - the housing mortgage firm Tamweel confirmed last week that Abdullah Nasser Abdullah, its deputy group chief executive, was arrested. He is the third Tamweel executive or former executive to be detained since April.
Analysts and brokers attributed the Dubai fall to Tamweel's subsequent plunge yesterday, which saw it lose four per cent of its value.
"It is the lack of liquidity in the whole GCC which is the problem," said Zeeshan Saleem, the trading manager at MashreqBank. He also said the falls could be a result of Ramadan. Last year, the DFM reached its low midway through Ramadan - after which it recorded a bull run.
"This time we may have the same scenario. But this time last year, foreigners were looking to enter the region," Mr Saleem said.
* with Reuters
business@thenational.ae
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 299hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 420Nm at 2,750rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 12.4L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh157,395 (XLS); Dh199,395 (Limited)
Specs
Price, base: Dhs850,000
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 591bhp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.3L / 100km
Team Angel Wolf Beach Blast takes place every Wednesday between 4:30pm and 5:30pm
Company profile
Name: Homie Portal LLC
Started: End of 2021
Founder: Abdulla Al Kamda
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Current number of staff: 14
Investment stage: Launch
Investors: Self-funded
Rankings
ATP: 1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 10,955 pts; 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 8,320; 3. Alexander Zverev (GER) 6,475 (+1); 5. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) 5,060 (+1); 6. Kevin Anderson (RSA) 4,845 (+1); 6. Roger Federer (SUI) 4,600 (-3); 7. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 4,110 (+2); 8. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 3,960; 9. John Isner (USA) 3,155 (+1); 10. Marin Cilic (CRO) 3,140 (-3)
WTA: 1. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 7,030 pts (+3); 2. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 6,290 (+4); 3. Simona Halep (ROM) 5,582 (-2); 4. Sloane Stephens (USA) 5,307 (+1); 5. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 5,100 (+3); 6. Angelique Kerber (GER) 4,965 (-4); 7. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 4,940; 8. Kiki Bertens (NED) 4,430 (+1); 9. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 3,566 (-6); 10. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 3,485 (+1)
More from Aya Iskandarani
If you go
There are regular flights from Dubai to Addis Ababa with Ethiopian Airlines with return fares from Dh1,700. Nashulai Journeys offers tailormade and ready made trips in Africa while Tesfa Tours has a number of different community trekking tours throughout northern Ethiopia. The Ben Abeba Lodge has rooms from Dh228, and champions a programme of re-forestation in the surrounding area.
INVESTMENT PLEDGES
Cartlow: $13.4m
Rabbitmart: $14m
Smileneo: $5.8m
Soum: $4m
imVentures: $100m
Plug and Play: $25m
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
Brief scores:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
Director: Nag Ashwin
Starring: Prabhas, Saswata Chatterjee, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Shobhana
Rating: ★★★★
A QUIET PLACE
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Rating: 4/5
KEY DATES IN AMAZON'S HISTORY
July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
2011: The Amazon Appstore for Google's Android is launched. It is still unavailable on Apple's iOS
2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
2017: Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its biggest acquisition
2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
Biog
Age: 50
Known as the UAE’s strongest man
Favourite dish: “Everything and sea food”
Hobbies: Drawing, basketball and poetry
Favourite car: Any classic car
Favourite superhero: The Hulk original