Kuwait Shares Fall to 16-Month Low on Growth Risk, Oil; Dubai Shares Gain - Bloomberg

Kuwait shares fell to the lowest in 16 months, leading Gulf markets lower, on concern the global recovery will falter as China’s growth slowed and Moody’s Investors Service signaled it may cut Spain’s credit rating.

The Kuwait SE Price Index retreated 1.7 percent to 6,431.7 at the close in Kuwait City, the lowest level since March 2009, taking this week’s decline to 2.9 percent. Gulf Cable and Electrical Industries Co., a maker of electrical equipment, led the drop and Agility slumped 7.9 percent. Bahrain’s gauge lost 1.2 percent to 1,379.98, the lowest since at least July 2004, when Bloomberg started tracking the index. Oil fell to the lowest in two weeks.

Stocks from the Gulf “are taking cues from the global economic outlook, which seems to be in somewhat of a flux,” said Saud Masud, a Dubai-based analyst at UBS AG.