According to Reuters, protesters have intensified their efforts to force Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak to quit as world leaders struggled to solve a crisis that has torn up the Middle East political map.
Egypt's bourse will be closed for a fifth day on Tuesday, but Middle East markets have tumbled this week, with Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman and Qatar all making their largest daily declines in at least eight months. Although some stocks have since trimmed losses, more volatility is forecast.
On Monday, trading volumes were lower than a day earlier, but remained above the January average.
In Dubai, Emaar Properties dropped 1.9 percent. The UAE's largest developer has nearly a fifth of its land bank in Egypt, according to estimates. Contractor Drake & Scull fell 1.5 percent and builder Arabtec slid 1.2 percent. Both are active in Egypt.
Dubai's index fell 0.6 percent to 1,534 points — a 21-week low, taking its losses to 4.9 percent in two sessions.
The Abu Dhabi index rose 1 percent 2,587 points.
Saudi Arabia's bourse, the largest in the Arab world, gave back early gains as the index fell 1 percent, taking its losses to 5.1 percent this week as firm oil prices did little to bolster sentiment in the world's top crude exporter.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 63.93 points down at 6,358.03. The sector activity for the day was all negative except 2 gaining sectors. The losing sectors ranged from 0.26 percent by the Cement sector to 2.76 percent by the Insurance sector. On the other hand the gaining sectors were the Multi-Investment sector with 0.02 percent and the Energy & Utilities sector with 0.52 percent. The overall market breadth for the day was negative with 14 advancers against 116 decliners giving it an AD ratio of 0.12, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) — licensed by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) — said.
The liquidity for the day reached SR 4.05 billion on Monday.
"Markets don't like uncertainty and therefore I don't see long-term money coming back despite compelling valuations," said Reuters quoted Shakeel Sarwar, head of asset management at Securities & Investment Co. (SICO) in Bahrain.
Benchmarks in Abu Dhabi and Oman rose 1 and 1.6 percent respectively, but confidence remained fragile. "If things turn nasty (in Egypt) then foreigners will accelerate their selling in the region," said Adel Nasr, United Securities brokerage manager in Muscat.
Kuwait's index climbed 0.6 percent to 6,859 points, clawing back some of Sunday's 1.8 percent drop.
Unrest is unlikely to spread to the Gulf, said Naser Al-Nafisi, general manager for Al Joman Center for Economic Consultancy in Kuwait.
The Qatari index rose 0.4 percent to 8,745 points.
The Omani index climbed 1.6 percent to 6,839 points.
The Bahraini measure dropped 0.2 percent to 1,449 points.
