Government measures to halt dizzying declines brought about by the global financial crisis gave little support to prices, with Oman’s bourse declining 1.7 percent on the second day after the launch of a 150 million Omani rial ($ 389.6 million) market-maker fund.
In Qatar, where the government has started to buy up listed banks’ capital in order to shore up the bourse, shares fell 3.37 percent, and in Kuwait, where the government is planning a multi-billion-dollar fund to help the stock market, the benchmark index edged down 0.2 percent.
This is a problem in Qatar, in Oman and Kuwait … when the governments intervene prices go up 10 to 15 percent … but it does not give a permanent effect," said Samer Al-Jaouni, general manager of Middle East Financial Brokerage Co.
Even if investors take heart, they are no longer willing to invest in the market. They are just relaxed that the price doesn’t keep going down and down," he said, adding that trading volumes were very low compared to the same period last year.
In Oman, Bank Muscat took the most points off the index, losing 2.8 percent, while Kuwait’s largest company by market capitalization, Mobile Communications Co (Zain), lost 3.75 percent.
