Saudi stock market sees biggest daily fall in nearly two months

Saudi Arabia’s stock market fell sharply on Sunday, snapping three sessions of gains as the prospect of more stringent measures to cope with the coronavirus and Moody’s downgrading of the kingdom’s outlook soured investor sentiment.

The kingdom’s finance minister on Saturday said the country will take strict and painful measures to deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and “all options for dealing with the crisis are open.”

One measure would be to slow down government projects, including mega-projects, to reduce spending, he said.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index plunged 5.7 percent, its biggest intraday fall since March 09, weighed down by an 8 percent drop in Al Rajhi Bank1120.SE and a 5.2 percent fall in oil giant Saudi Aramco.

In Dubai, the index closed 4% down, with Emaar Properties sliding 4.8 percent after Moody’s changed the outlook for the developer to negative from stable.

The Abu Dhabi index dropped 3 percent, as the largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank lost 3.3 percent.

Qatar’s index slipped 0.9 percent, hurt by a 1.4 percent drop in Qatar Islamic Bank.

Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index dropped 3.3 percent, with Commercial International Bank falling 2.3 percent.