From the Daily Mail:
15:58 EST, 17 January 2016
- Middle Eastern stock markets nosedived following sharp decline in oil
- All seven of the Gulf states saw their markets take a dramatic tumble
- Comes after sanctions against Iran were lifted so market is flooded with oil
Stock
markets across the Middle East have taken a dramatic tumble as a lifting
of sanctions in Iran means the sector has suddenly been swamped with
oil.
Share
prices in all seven of the energy-rich Gulf states nosedived today
following the sharp decline in oil prices as Iran prepares to resume
crude exports after the lifting of sanctions.
London
shares are braced for a second wave of crisis to hit when they open
tomorrow morning after contagion from China sent the FTSE 100 to its
worst start in history last week.
The plunge
in the first day of trading in the Muslim week also follows heavy losses
in global stock markets on Friday, when Gulf exchanges were closed for
the weekend.
The
price of oil, which contributes more than 80 per cent to Gulf states'
revenues, shed more than 20 per cent this year to drop below $30 a
barrel.
This follows a plunge of 65 per cent in the past two years.
The expected
return of Iran to the oil market, following the implementation on
Saturday of its historic nuclear deal with world powers, will only
worsen the production glut that has been the main reason for the oil
price dive.
All
seven Gulf stock markets saw a wave of panic selling, sending indices
to multi-year lows as big investors joined small dealers in dumping
shares in fear of a further slump.
'The
majority of Gulf firms depend on their governments, which depend on oil
revenues. No one knows the bottom of oil prices,' Kuwaiti analyst Ali
al-Nemish said. 'The Iranian impact on the markets appears to be
somewhat inflated because Iranian crude exports will not be huge
initially.'
The
stock markets of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi have already lost
more in the past two weeks than they dropped in the whole of 2015....MORE
The Kuwait Times says:
Gulf shares plunge after oil rout, Iran deal
Qatar's The Peninsula isn't as equinanimous:
Qatar stocks plunge to multi-year lows on panic
