Arab stock markets lost tangible ground this week amid a fresh spate of speculation, declining liquidity and panic sell-offs as the first quarter of the year drew to an end, financial analysts said Friday, according to dpa. However, they expected regional shares to pick up in the coming couple of weeks, saying low stock prices "should lure investors to buy". "I believe panic sell-offs, tangibly diminishing liquidity and retreating confidence were behind this week's plunge that was led by the Saudi bourse," an Amman-based portfolio manager told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "The decline was apparently aggravated by the forced liquidation of margin investors' positions," he said. Analysts expected a rebound in most of regional stock markets during the coming couple of weeks, particularly with the publication of first quarter results. The Saudi stock exchange, the Arab world's largest bourse, was the scene of sharp decline this week that was fuelled by profit taking pressures on the part of scared investors who wanted to evade further losses. The Tadawul All Shares Index (TASI) plummeted 7.8 per cent this week, closing at 7,889.74 points, down from 8,560.82 points last week. The Riyadh-based Bahkeet Financial Advisors (BFA) expected the first quarter results, particularly of blue chip firms, to represent the market's "driving engine" for the coming few weeks. "Speculative stocks will continue their downward trend until the corporate results are out, against the expectation that they will suffer further losses," the BFA weekly report said. Other analysts blamed "rumours about imminent collapse of the market" for this week's plunge. Jordanian shares lost ground for the second week in a row led by the heavyweight Arab Bank, which is scheduled to hold its annual meeting of shareholders later Friday. "I believe the direction of the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) will depend to a large extent on the whether the Arab Bank meeting is going to adopt the distribution of bonus shares," said Nizar Taher, head of trading at the Jordan Ahli Bank. The ASE all-share price index shed 3.06 per cent this week, closing at 6,149 points, down from 6,343 points last week, according to the market's weekly report. Kuwait's KSE all-share price index fell 0.8 per cent this week, to close at 10,222 points compared with last week's close at 10,303 points. The unified all-share price index of the Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi also shed 1 per cent this week, closing at 3,846 points from 3,882 points last week. Analysts attributed the retreat of UAE stock prices partly to the crisis between Iran and Britain over Tehran detention of British sailors in the Gulf waters.
