DUBAI; Qatar’s stock market closed nearly flat after a brief, panicked sell-off triggered by Sepp Blatter’s surprise resignation from world soccer body FIFA. Dubai rose while other Gulf markets moved little.

The Doha index slid as much as 3.2 percent to a seven-week low shortly after the market opened. Blatter’s decision to quit, just days after he was elected as FIFA president for a fifth term, increased investor fears that Qatar could be stripped of its right to host the 2022 World Cup.

Doha was awarded the World Cup in a 2010 vote. Corruption probes into FIFA by Swiss and US. authorities have now raised the prospect of key decisions made on Blatter’s watch being reviewed.

Blatter’s resignation “is the primary driver for sure” for the Doha market, said Amer Khan, senior executive at Shuaa Asset Management in Dubai.

“As and when further developments take place, the market will react.”

But selling of stocks eased later on Wednesday as buyers emerged, believing there would be little real impact on Qatar’s wealthy economy even if it did lose the World Cup.

It is not yet clear whether Qatar faces any serious risk of being deprived of the Cup. It has denied any wrongdoing in the bidding process.

In any case, the world’s biggest natural gas exporter could easily afford the waste of several billions of dollars building unused stadiums. Analysts believe most major infrastructure building plans would go ahead anyway, since they are not primarily aimed at World Cup visitors.

Most stocks closed little changed on Wednesday but Gulf International Services surged 5.8 percent after announcing some success in mitigating the impact of low oil prices on its drilling rig business.

The company said late on Tuesday it had succeeded in leasing out one of two idled jack-up rigs and the second was being considered for work to start early next year.

Most of the day’s big losers were affected by factors other than World Cup speculation. Ezdan, down 2.6 percent, is in profit-taking mode after jumping last month on its inclusion in MSCI’s emerging markets index. Vodafone Qatar, down 2.5 percent, double its quarterly net loss.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Dubai added 1.0 percent in active trade. Emaar Properties, the emirate’s biggest listed developer, rose 0.3 percent.

Amlak Finance, which is not part of the index but is 45 percent owned by Emaar, surged its daily 15 percent limit and was the most traded stock in Dubai. Trading in Amlak had been suspended for nearly six years because of debt problems before it restarted on Tuesday, when the stock closed flat.

The Cairo index rose 0.7 percent to 8,906 points but closed well off its intra-day high of 8,953 points as Ezz Steel gave up early gains and tumbled 5.7 percent after swinging to an annual financial loss.

Egypt’s biggest steelmaker reported a net loss of 836 million Egyptian pounds ($109.5 million) for 2014, against a net profit of 528 million pounds in the previous year.

Cairo-based Naeem brokerage said that although a loss had been expected, the results were worse than its forecasts.

“Ezz Steel’s performance seems hampered by a weaker global backdrop, negative impacts from energy shortages, namely natural gas, and expensive inventory overhang,” it said in a note.