Sunday, 3 May 2020

#Saudi Stocks Slump as Minister Warns of ‘Painful’ Measures Ahead, May 3, 2020 - Bloomberg

Middle Eastern Stock News for Sunday, May 3, 2020 - Bloomberg:

Saudi Arabian stocks dropped the most in almost eight weeks after the kingdom’s finance minister said “painful” measures -- including deep spending cuts -- were needed to respond to the coronavirus crisis and crash in oil prices.

The Tadawul All Share Index closed down 7.4%, the most since March 9. Oil giant Saudi Aramco retreated 5.2% to 30 riyals per share, while major lenders including Al Rajhi Bank, National Commercial Bank and Saudi British Bank plunged at least 6.7%.

The world’s biggest oil exporter hasn’t witnessed “a crisis of this severity” in decades, Mohammed Al-Jadaan said in an interview with Saudi television station Al-Arabiya on Saturday, adding that government spending will have to be cut “very deeply.” His comments were a sharp change in tone from more reassuring remarks he gave about the economy one week before.

Al-Jadaan “is the voice of the Saudi government and leadership,” said Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief strategy officer at Al Dhabi Capital Ltd. in Abu Dhabi. Investors “took it as a warning of much higher spending cuts to come than the original 20%-30% expected earlier in the crisis.”


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