Arab stocks to remain under pressure

AMMAN — Arab stock markets are to remain under pressure in the coming months, financial analysts said, because of the political turmoil following the Arab Spring uprisings and the standoff between Iran and Western powers over Tehran's nuclear programme.

"I believe Middle East bourses will continue to suffer in the new year from the fallout of Arab uprisings and the political turmoil resulting from Western threats to Iran," Nizar Taher, the chief of brokerage at Jordan Ahli Bank, said.

Arab stock markets closed the week mixed as investors awaited the release of annual corporate results, particularly of blue chips, analysts said.

Taher said that pressure on the regional markets from the euro zone debt crisis was "easing as investors feel assured that European policymakers were serious in finding sustainable solutions." Taher expected oil prices at about $100 a barrel would provide a catalyst to Arab stock markets in 2012 and beyond.

"Part of the huge surplus petrodollars accumulated by Arab oil exporters usually finds its way to regional stock markets as fresh investments," he said. In a report released last week, the Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) expected the earnings of firms listed on the bourses of the six member states of the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to grow by 19 per cent in 2012, topping $64 billion.

"This will bring the GCC corporate sector back to the levels reached in 2007 prior to the onset of the global crisis," the report said.

Saudi shares rebounded last week, driven by annual profit expectations of blue chips, particularly in the petrochemical and banking sectors, analysts said.

The Tadawul All Share Index of the Arab world's largest stock exchange gained 1.23 per cent on weekly basis, clos-