They attributed the rebound mainly to assurances made at the start of the trading week by the Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf, who said that his country was able to surmount all difficulties as it managed to do in the past.

Al-Assaf said that his government was intervening in the market to buy stocks for the state-run pensioners fund, making benefit from the exceptionally low prices.

“I believe that the Saudi minister’s remarks were instrumental in this week’s strong rebound by the Saudi and other Gulf stock markets,” Wajdi Makhamreh, CEO of the Amman-based Noor Investments brokerage, told Arab News.

However, he said that further plunges of regional markets could not be excluded as long as demonstrations continued to take place in countries like Bahrain, Oman and Yemen.

“Fears of political uncertainty spreading to other countries are still there. The ambiguity of the situation will have negative impact on markets,” Makhamreh said.

He believed that surging oil prices would help shore up regional markets in the medium term through the huge income surpluses which are expected to accrue to Gulf crude producing countries.

The Saudi market’s strong gains last week were led by the petrochemical and banking sectors.

The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) of the Arab world’s largest stock exchange surged 14.75 percent on weekly basis, offsetting most of its losses a week earlier that reached 15 percent. The Saudi benchmark closed week at 6,108 points.

The liquidity for the week came in at SR26.83 billion as compared to SR20.10 billion for the past week.

On a week-to-week basis, the sector activity was all positive. The gaining sectors ranged from 4.97 percent by the real estate development sector to 18.06 percent by the petrochemical industries sector.

The top gainers for the week were the Sahara Petrochemical Co. with again of 30.03 percent to close at SR19.70 and the Banque Saudi Fransi with gain of 27.24 percent to close for the week at SR45.30. The top losers for the week on the other hand were the National Metal Manufacturing & Casting Co. with a loss of -22.07 percent to close at SR24.55 and the Etihad Atheeb Telecom Co. losing -15.07 percent to close at SR6.20, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) — licensed by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) — said in its weekly market report.

“Undoubtedly, investors have been reassured by the finance minister’s remarks that also helped to restore confidence to the market,” said Mohammad Emran, member of the Saudi Economic Society.

“However, the forthcoming stage will be crucial due to the split in the market between those who are optimistic and others who bet on declining prices,” he added.

Kuwaiti’s KSE all-share index gained 2.2 percent last week, closing at 6,286 points.

The benchmarks of the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi climbed 7.2 percent and 3.4 percent to close week respectively at 1.450 points and 2,617 points.

Qatar’s all-share price index surged 9.88 percent last week, closing at 8,229 points.

Bahrain’s benchmark gained 2.4 percent on weekly basis, closing at 1,410 points.

The all-share index of the Amman Stock Exchange gained 0.2 percent last week, closing at 2.219 points.