Markets

Saudi Exchange leads market losses across the GCC

By Pramod Kumar, Edmund Bower

June 15, 2025, 1:07 PM

Emergency workers survey the damage after missiles fired from Iran hit a residential building, in Tamra, northern Israel. The conflict is affecting most Gulf stock markets — Emergency workers survey the damage after missiles fired from Iran hit a residential building in Tamra, northern Israel. The conflict is affecting most Gulf stock markets

Tadawul hits 20-month low
Qatar index drops 4%
Fears of a wider regional conflict

The Saudi Exchange closed on Sunday at its lowest level since October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, as GCC stock markets fell following an escalation in Israel’s conflict with Iran.

The Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI), which tracks Saudi Arabia’s main market, opened almost 4 percent lower on Sunday at 10,429.67 before recovering most of its losses and closing at 10,731.59, the lowest close in 20 months.

Fears of a wider regional conflict prompted falls across the GCC, offset slightly by the rise in the price of Brent crude to above $70 a barrel.

Shares in Saudi Aramco, the region’s largest oil company, rose by almost 2 percent.

“Had the oil price not been so high, we would be expecting much more reaction from the market,” said Muhammad Fawad Khan, equity research analyst at Alinma Capital. The Saudi Exchange is by far the largest bourse in the GCC.

The TASI has been trending downwards since February amid fears of a global trade war and an escalation in regional conflict.

Its recovery on Sunday left the TASI trading at just under 1 percent compared to the previous close. “It is better than we were expecting,” said Khan. “The market is in a kind of ‘wait-and-see mode’.”

The Qatari stock market index closed 3 percent lower than the previous day, with the majority of the stocks declining.

Qatar National Bank, the Gulf’s biggest lender, fell more than 4 percent.

Kuwait’s bourse was down 4 percent, while Bahrain’s and Oman’s stock exchanges fell by 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

It follows an Israeli attack on Iran on Friday that prompted retaliatory strikes on Tel Aviv. The bombing entered its third day on Sunday amid fears of further escalation. Iranian nuclear talks, that were scheduled for Sunday, were cancelled.

Dubai’s benchmark stock index fell sharply on Friday, as heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East triggered a sell-off in heavyweight property shares.

“With Dubai now a proxy bet on the Middle Eastern Capital markets’ growth story, such volatility moves can be considered the new normal in this globally disoriented world order,” said Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial.