RIYADH — Financial markets across the Arabian Gulf and Egypt plunged sharply on Sunday, as escalating military tensions between Israel and Iran triggered widespread selloffs and heightened volatility across the region's stock exchanges. The downturn followed a weekend of intensified hostilities, with both sides exchanging airstrikes since Friday, rattling investor confidence and driving oil prices up nearly 7% by the close of trading on Friday. In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) opened down by around 3%, before recovering slightly to close 1.81% lower at 10,647 points. Trading volumes exceeded SR2 billion. Despite the overall market drop, shares in Saudi Aramco rose 1.76%, buoyed by the oil price surge, peaking at SR25.50 on a trading value of more than SR357 million. The Kuwait Stock Exchange experienced the steepest losses, initially falling by 5%, which triggered a temporary trading suspension. It ended the session down 3.9% at 8,507 points, shedding 348 points. Total trading exceeded 446 million shares, valued at KWD 127.7 million. Egypt's stock market suffered one of its worst single-day losses in recent memory. The benchmark EGX 30 index fell 6.26% to 30,475 points, while market capitalization lost more than EGP 120 billion within the first 15 minutes of trading, as a wave of panic selling swept the bourse. The Qatar Stock Exchange index also dropped 2.8% to 10,334 points, and the Muscat Securities Market slid 1.8% to 4,461 points. The Bahrain Bourse recorded a milder decline of 0.7%.
