A standstill in the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations dampened investor morale, and the majority of the major Gulf stock markets opened down on Wednesday, carrying over losses from the previous session and matching weakness in Asian shares.
As the deadline to raise the government’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit or risk default approached, representatives for President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans called off another session of debt ceiling negotiations on Tuesday with no indication of progress.
Healthcare, financial, and energy stocks contributed to a 0.1% decline in Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index (.TASI), which was the country’s fourth straight negative day for the market.
The largest lenders in the kingdom by assets, Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services Group (4013.SE) and Saudi National Bank SJSC (1180.SE), both had declines. State oil company and index heavyweight Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) experienced a decline of 0.3%.
Retailer Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Company SJSC (4240.SE) dropped roughly 6% among other individual equities after posting a quarterly loss on Tuesday.
Real estate and financial services saw the largest declines in Dubai’s main stock index (.DFMGI), which was down 0.2% overall. Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC (DISB.DU) down 0.6%, while illustrious developer Emaar Properties PJSC (EMAR.DU) lost 0.9%.
With the majority of its constituent stocks trading in the red, the benchmark stock index for Qatar (.QSI) fell 0.4%, prolonging losses for a third straight session. Heavyweight Commercial Bank PSQC (COMB.QA) sank 0.6%, and Qatar Islamic Bank QPSC (QISB.QA) fell 0.5%.
The benchmark index (.FTFADGI) traded unchanged in Abu Dhabi.