Arab stocks dropped sharply on Tuesday amid strong uncertainty on the international stock markets. 
Saudi Arabia's stock market, the largest in the Arab world, recorded its biggest decline on record as Saudi stocks fell in response to a global equity rout and concerns over future earnings of the kingdom's largest firm. The index .SASI dropped 9.67 percent to 9,338.54 points, its sharpest one-day slide on record, surpassing the 9.36 percent decline on July 15, 2006 during a stock market crash.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE (SABIC), the world's largest chemicals firm by market value, led the sell-off, falling 9.93 percent, its sharpest decline since July 2006.
Dubai's index fell 6.21 percent, its biggest one-day loss since March 2006, according to Reuters. Oman's benchmark fell 8.3 percent, Qatar's 7.8 percent and Abu Dhabi's 6.8 percent. Foreign funds started selling last week as declines elsewhere in the world skewed their portfolios in favour of Gulf markets. In Kuwait, the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) on Tuesday kept up a series of falls, closing with a drastic drop of 212.7 points. According to Kuna, Tuesday's drop continued Monday's falls.
In other major Arab bourses the trend was similar. Lebanon's index dropped 3 percent and Jordan's tumbled 4 percent, heading for its biggest loss in 22 months. Cairo's benchmark was down 3.6 percent, extending Monday's slide, the steepest in more than 18 months.
© 2008 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
