Bourses in the Arab world closed higher on Tuesday for a second straight day. Several Middle East markets gained seven percent or more, with Dubai and Doha leading the way with increases of some 10 percent.
The Saudi stock market, the largest in the Arab world, moved up 7.29 percent after rising 9.2 percent in early trading, a day after it gained 9.5 percent. It shed 23 percent last week. According to AFP, Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All-Shares Index closed on 6,828.96 points after soaring close to the key 7,000-point mark. It is still down 38.1 percent on the year.
The bourse in Dubai closed up 10.76 percent, its biggest single-day increase ever, at 3,703.34 points. It was bolstered by the market leader, real estate giant Emaar, which gained 15 percent for the second day in a row. Dubai Financial Market Index has already recouped most of the losses it made last week when it fell 26.7 percent.
The other United Arab Emirates bourse, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, increased 7.5 percent to 3,602.45 points.
The second largest Arab bourse, the Kuwait Stock Exchange, closed down 0.26 percent at 11,795.70 points despite opening higher. It was apparently reacting to only modest nine-month results announced by some banks.
In Egypt, the CASE-30 stock index closed the day up 6.3 percent at 6,138. The index had lost more than half its value in six months since hitting a high of 12,000 points in May.
The Doha Securities Market closed up almost 10 percent at 8,377.36 after the Qatar Investment Authority, the emirate's sovereign wealth fund, decided to buy between 10 percent and 20 percent of bank shares.
In Oman, the Muscat Securities Market finished up 8.4 percent at 7,717.43 points, while the Bahrain Stock Exchange closed up 1.4 percent.
In the past two days, the seven stock markets in the Gulf have increased their value by more than US$100 billion to some US$870 billion, after shedding around US$200 billion in the past week.
