By Ira – JBizNews Desk

Gulf stock markets fell sharply on Sunday as the escalating exchange of strikes between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis rattled investors across the region.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark Tadawul All Share Index closed at 9,438.50, down 257.36 points or 2.65%, according to Saudi Exchange data reported by Arab News. The index touched 9,367.91 during the session, its lowest level in a year, with decliners outnumbering advancers 348 to 30 on turnover of 4.31 billion riyals ($1.15 billion). Egypt’s EGX30 fell 5.35% intraday as the selloff spread across the region, Forbes Middle East reported, and most other Gulf bourses traded lower from the open, according to Reuters.

The selloff followed a weekend of direct attacks on the kingdom. The Saudi-led coalition said Sunday it intercepted drones and missiles over Riyadh and ten ballistic missiles fired toward the south, after the Houthis claimed responsibility for Saturday attacks on King Khalid International Airport and Saudi oil facilities, Al Jazeera and CNBC reported. A satellite image showed smoke rising from a Saudi Aramco distribution center, according to ABC News. Saudi civil defense authorities issued emergency alerts for Riyadh, Abha and Khamis Mushait before declaring the danger passed, and the Houthis warned they could target the Riyadh airport again.

GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi condemned the attacks, saying threats toward Makkah violate the sanctity of Islamic holy sites, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The fighting has become an increasingly destabilizing front in the regional war that followed the US-Israeli offensive against Iran, turning Saudi Arabia, a US ally and the world’s largest oil exporter, into a pressure point.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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