Saudi Shares Slide Most in 18-Months on Oil, Europe Debt Crisis - Bloomberg.com

Saudi shares lost the most in 18 months, leading a drop in the oil-rich Gulf, as crude and global stock markets slumped on concern Europe’s debt crisis will spread and as tensions grew in the Korean peninsula.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s largest petrochemical maker known as Sabic, sank 10 percent, the most since October 2008. National Industrialization Co. slid to the lowest in seven months. The Tadawul All Share Index plunged 6.8 percent, the biggest drop since November 2008, to 5,760.33. The region’s Bloomberg GCC 200 Index fell 5.5 percent. Dubai’s index lost 4.6 percent as the International Monetary Fund said the emirate’s economy will contract this year.

“Investors are reacting to the drop in oil prices, coupled with the global slump and the European crisis,” said Kifah Maharmeh, general manager of Al Dar Shares & Bonds in Abu Dhabi. “The sharp decline in the Saudi market was unexpected.”