Gulf Shares Drop for Fourth Day as Oil, Euro Slide; Oman Falls - Bloomberg.com

Gulf shares dropped for a fourth day, led by declines in Oman and Saudi Arabia, as crude oil slid to a three-month low and the euro fell to a four-year low on concern Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis may derail a global recovery.

Oman Telecommunications Co., the biggest telephone company in the sultanate, declined to the lowest in more than a year and National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC retreated to the lowest in almost a month. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index of stocks in the Gulf region decreased 0.2 percent. Oman’s MSM30 Index slumped 1.3 percent, the most since Dec. 9, to 6,570.71. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index fell 0.5 percent.

“The Greek crisis and the fall in oil prices are scaring investors off,” said Haissam Arabi, chief executive officer of Gulfmena Alternative Investments in Dubai. “If the euro continues to plummet and oil prices continue to fall and more people continue to talk about how bad the situation in Europe is, then we should expect the hemorrhaging to continue.”