Saudi stocks lead Gulf bourses down after oil slump

DUBAI — The Saudi stock market led Gulf bourses down on Tuesday, a day after US oil prices slumped to historic lows over sluggish demand, a supply glut and a lack of storage.

      The Saudi Tadawul stock market, the largest in the Arab world, dropped 2.1 per cent at the start of trading before recovering some of the losses. Less than an hour after opening it was trading down 0.9 per cent.

      Energy giant Saudi Aramco was 1.3 per cent lower, well below its listing price.

      The Dubai Financial Market dropped by 2.3 per cent, while its sister bourse in Abu Dhabi was down 2.1 per cent. Qatar bourse dropped 0.7 per cent.

      In Kuwait, the Premier index slumped 1.3 per cent while the All-Shares index was down 1.0 per cent.

      The small Muscat bourse dipped 0.9 per cent while Bahrain stocks were flat.

      US crude prices made a partial recovery on Tuesday after trading at historic lows, diving below zero the previous day for the first time due to paralysed demand and a glut that overwhelmed storage facilities.

      On Tuesday West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was trading at -$4.72 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 10 per cent to $22.90 a barrel.

      All the Gulf states depend on oil income for most of their public revenues.

      The International Monetary Fund last week projected the six Gulf countries along with oil exporters in the Middle East and North Africa will lose more around $230 billion in oil revenues after oil prices dropped by more than 60 per cent this year.

      The global lender also forecast that economies of the Gulf countries will shrink by 2.7 per cent, their worst performance in several decades.