Follow-Up: Gulf Markets Fall as Fresh Houthi Strikes on Saudi Arabia Raise Regional Risk, Saudi Benchmark Down 1.2%
RIYADH — Major Gulf stock markets fell in early trade on Thursday, October 22, as fresh attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saudi Arabia fueled fears of a broader regional escalation, according to Reuters. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI) fell 1.2% and was poised for its eighth weekly decline; Saudi National Bank, the kingdom's biggest lender, slid 1.9%, and oil giant Saudi Aramco lost 0.5%.
Other Gulf markets also declined: Dubai's main index dropped 0.8%, with top lender Emirates NBD down 2.4% and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) down 1.5%; Abu Dhabi's index lost 0.5%; and Qatar's index retreated 0.8%, with Qatar National Bank, the Gulf's biggest lender, down 1.1%.
Riyadh has answered the Houthi attacks with a wave of strikes on missile launcher sites, vowed to protect the kingdom, and said it has intercepted many of the group's ballistic missiles. The U.S. State Department has ordered some diplomats and family members to leave its missions in Saudi Arabia, and U.S. officials told Reuters it also plans to pull family members from several other U.S. missions in the region.
Background: Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation previously said an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday evening killed one resident and injured eight others, while falling debris from an intercepted drone near the Shaybah oil field killed two people and injured two more, as GSM reported earlier, along with the State Department's departure order.
Tensions also rose in the northern Gulf. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said four vessels involved in illegal oil transfers were hit simultaneously and caught fire after its forces tracked them on Wednesday, while Iranian media separately reported explosions of unknown nature and origin in Sirik, in southern Iran.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 沙特阿拉伯利雅得天际线：王国塔与阿卜杜拉国王金融区（B.alotaby 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons）。 / The Riyadh skyline with the Kingdom Tower and the King Abdullah Financial District in Saudi Arabia (photo by B.alotaby, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
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