Dubai Index Leads Drop in Gulf Markets on Global Growth Concern

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Dubai’s benchmark index dropped for a fifth day, leading a decline among Gulf markets, after a fall in U.S. consumer confidence to a 10-month low spurred concern that the global economic recovery will slow.

Shuaa Capital PSC, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest investment bank, fell to the lowest level since May in intraday trading and Emirates NBD PJSC, the nation’s largest bank, retreated to the lowest in three weeks. The Dubai Financial Market General Index declined 1.2 percent to 1,567.02 at 1:09 p.m. in the emirate, the lowest intraday level since Jan. 28. Qatar’s gauge dropped 1.2 percent and Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index slid 0.4 percent.

“Dubai is more externally focused than some of the other countries in the Gulf,” said Paul Cooper, managing director at Sarasin-Alpen & Partners LTD. The worry is that “the strong economic recovery we have seen in the past six to nine months” globally is coming to an end.