Regional stock markets rebounded today, bolstered by interest rate cuts and infusion of fresh liquidity, following this week's battering by concerns over the global financial crisis. Six of the seven Gulf stock markets showed moderate to strong gains at the close though all of them finished the week sharply down after panic about the global financial meltdown took a heavy toll on share prices. The seven Gulf markets have shed more than $160 billion of their capitalisation this week. Today's rally comes after six leading central banks around the world, including the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England made a series of co-ordinated interest rate cuts of half a percentage point yesterday. The unprecedented move was in response to collapsing stock markets and fears of a worldwide recession. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, closed up one per cent on 3,207.30 points today on the back of a 3.7 per cent rise by the real estate sector.
Abu Dhabi finished the week sharply lower, registering a 18.9 per cent decline. The Dubai Financial Market Index reversed a small part of the 25 per cent losses it has accumulated in the past four days. The index bounced 3.7 per cent to close on 3,198.09 points, remaining a massive 22.5 per cent below last week's finish. DFM was supported by the telecom and real estate sectors which rose 9.3 per cent and five per cent, respectively. Market leader and giant real estate developer Emaar gained 3.6 per cent after diving in the past four days.
The Kuwait Stock Exchange, the second largest in the Arab world, finished up 3.8 per cent at 11,905.70 points, spurred by reports of a massive government package worth more than 20 billion dollars to assist the financial system. The KSE index, however, ended the week down 7.3 per cent despite yesterday's interest rate cut by the country's central bank. The tiny Muscat Securities Market made the strongest recovery on the final day of the trading week, closing up 8.3 per cent on 7,178.39 points, leaving it down 9.2 per cent for the week.
In gas-rich Qatar, the Doha Securities Market increased 1.9 per cent to close on 7,573.62 points. It has shed 18.7 per cent in the week. The small Bahrain Stock Exchange was up 0.45 per cent. Egypt's key CASE-30 stock index bounced up more than seven per cent in opening trade following two days of heavy losses amid concerns over the global financial crisis. The CASE-30, which lost 16.47 per cent on Tuesday and 7.1 per cent yesterday, shot up at the opening before narrowing its gains to 4.23 per cent or 5,710 points in early afternoon deals.
The Saudi stock market was closed on Thursday after a rollercoaster ride on Wednesday, its final day of trading this week. After slumping below 6,000 points for the first time in more than 52 months and shedding more than eight per cent, Saudi's Tadawul All-Shares Index ended the day down 1.5 per cent at 6,160.52 points. For the week as a whole, the TASI plummeted 17.4 per cent following the market's reopening on Monday following the Eid religious holiday.
*AFP
