JEDDAH: Several major stock markets in the Middle East dropped over 2 percent on Thursday as protracted weakness in oil prices and the gloom in equity markets globally prompted investors to dump shares.

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All-Share Index dropped 3.0 percent to 5,661 points after breaking technical support at the early February low of 5,834 points.

The petrochemical sector was one of the main drags with Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the largest listed stock by market value, falling 3.8 percent. Saudi Kayan Petrochemicals tumbled 6.1 percent.

Local investors also dumped small and mid-tier stocks. Emaar Economic City and Al-Tayyar Travel Group 1810.SE each dropped more than 7.0 percent.

Egypt’s main index tumbled 4.1 percent in its biggest drop since Jan. 20, bringing its losses this year to 17.0 percent.

Commercial International Bank Egypt slumped 7.1 percent to 31.25 Egyptian pounds. Egypt’s largest listed lender by market value posted fourth-quarter net profit of 1.15 billion pounds ($147 million), up 11 percent, but cut its planned dividend payment, saying it wanted to boost its capital adequacy ratio.

“The strong performance at the top line was partially offset by higher operating expenses and provisioning,” said a note by Cairo-based Naeem brokerage, though it upgraded the stock to “buy” from “accumulate” with a target of 51.28 pounds. The stock is now down 16.1 percent year-to-date.

Orascom Telecom tumbled 5.3 percent. The conglomerate’s board has approved its final offer for the acquisition of CI Capital, a subsidiary of CIB, the company said on Thursday.

But Beltone Financial, taken over by Orascom late last year, surged 10 percent for a second straight day. Investors think Beltone will benefit strategically under new ownership.

Dubai’s index dropped 2.6 percent to 2,981 points, weighed down by the real estate sector, taking its losses to 5.4 percent in 2016.

“Most traders booked profits and opted to shift to the stable and less volatile stocks or holding cash for the time being until it tests the next major support,” said Shiv Prakash, senior analyst at Abu Dhabi’s NBAD Securities. The next supports are at 2,945 and 2,866 points, he added.

DAMAC Properties sank 4.2 percent to AED.49 in volatile trade. Over the past week shares in the developer had enjoyed a technical rebound, but investors cashed out on Thursday after the company reported a 12 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit.

“Technically AED2.67 was the neckline resistance from where the profit-taking started — the lower support is now seen at AED2.35,” said Prakash.

Another developer, Emaar Properties, dropped 2.7 percent after briefly trading in positive territory. The company reported near-flat quarterly net profit of AED1.03 billion ($281 million) after taking a writedown related to a fire at one of its hotels on New Year’s Eve. An analyst at SICO Bahrain had forecast AED1.08 billion.

Dubai Parks and Resorts tumbled 3.5 percent after the amusement park builder posted a 2015 loss of 109 million dirhams compared to a 21 million dirham loss a year earlier.

Abu Dhabi’s index declined 0.8 percent, erasing most of the previous session’s 1.0 percent gain. Dana Gas, a natural gas explorer, fell 2.0 percent and was the most traded stock.

RAK Properties dropped 3.6 percent as traders turned a quick profit; the shares had surged their 15 percent daily limit in the previous session after the developer reported 2015 profit rose to 160 million dirhams from 156 million dirhams in 2014.

“The resilience of the United Arab Emirates market over the past couple of weeks was partly attributed to the quarterly earnings,” said Sebastien Henin, head of asset management at Dubai-based The National Investor.

In Qatar, the index retreated 1.4 percent as drilling rig provider Gulf International Services, the most traded stock, tumbled 6.1 percent; it had dropped by the same margin on Wednesday.