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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Gulf markets plunge on US-Iran tensions, Aramco hits lowest since IPO

Gulf markets plunge on US-Iran tensions, Aramco hits lowest since IPO

Published Jan 5, 2020 12:00 am
By Reuters DUBAI - Gulf stocks fell sharply in late afternoon trade on Sunday, with Kuwaiti and Saudi stocks leading losses. FILE PHOTO: Investors monitor a screen displaying stock information at the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) following the debut of Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO) on the Riyadh's stock market, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 11, 2019. REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri Investors monitor a screen displaying stock information at the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) following the debut of Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO) on the Riyadh's stock market, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 11, 2019. (REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri/FILE PHOTO/MANILA BULLETIN) Shares of oil giant Aramco 2222.SE, which listed last month in a record initial public offering (IPO), fell 1.7% to hit the lowest level since it started trading on Dec 11. Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Tehran’s overseas military operations was killed on Friday in a US drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport. The killing is seen by Tehran as an act of war that risks regional conflagration. The Kuwaiti index, the best performer in the region in 2019, was down nearly 4.1%, while Saudi stocks .TASI plunged 2.2%. Dubai stocks .DFMGI were down 3.1% and the Abu Dhabi index .ADI fell 1.41%. Aramco shares dropped to 34.55 riyals a share, the lowest level since it started trading last month. “A US-Iran war could shave 0.5 percentage points or more off global GDP, mainly due to a collapse in Iran’s economy, but also due to the impact from a surge in oil prices,” Jason Tuvey, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said in a note last week. He said such a conflict would probably pressure equity and bond markets in the Middle East but that Gulf countries’ currency pegs to the US dollar would likely remain intact. Oil prices LCOc1 jumped to $63.05 a barrel on Friday, their highest level in more than three months, after Soleimani’s killing sparked fears that conflict in the region could disrupt global oil supplies.
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