MIDEAST STOCKS-Region dragged down by global tumble but outperforms most of Asia

MIDEAST STOCKS-Region dragged down by global tumble but outperforms most of Asia:

"Middle Eastern stock markets fell on Tuesday because of the global downturn in equities, but the region outperformed emerging markets in Asia, where MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan plunged 3.6 percent.

Because of low oil prices and poor liquidity, the Gulf greatly underperformed the uptrend in global emerging markets last year, so fund managers say it may be less prone to profit-taking and have less distance to fall on the way down.

The Saudi stock index fell 1.6 percent with declining stocks outnumbering gainers by 169 to 13. Cement shares continued to pull back after big gains last week, with Jouf Cement down 3.3 percent."



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