Qatar’s Shares Retreat Most in Three Week as Europe Rating-Cut Concerns - Bloomberg

Qatar’s benchmark stock index declined the most in more than three weeks as emerging-market stocks fell after Fitch Ratings joined Moody’s Investors Service in warning that Europe faces lower credit ratings.

Industries Qatar QSC (IQCD), the Middle East’s second-biggest petrochemicals company, dropped to the lowest level this month. Qatar Telecom QSC (QTEL), the country’s biggest company by revenue, retreated a second time this week. Qatar’s QE Index (DSM) dropped 0.4 percent, the most since Nov. 21, to 8,763.78 at the 1 p.m. close in Doha. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index (SASEIDX) sank 1.3 percent, the steepest drop since Oct. 3, as trading volumes climbed to the highest since March.

Fitch and Moody’s said yesterday that a European Union summit last week offered little help in ending the region’s debt crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3 percent yesterday, the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) dropped today to the lowest this month and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell as much as 1.1 percent.

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