Abu Dhabi
Major stock markets in the Gulf retreated in early trade on Wednesday, tracking Asian shares after a blast in Poland raised fears that the Russian-Ukraine conflict could spill over.
NATO member Poland said a Russian-made rocket killed two people in eastern Poland near Ukraine, and it summoned Russia’s ambassador to Warsaw for an explanation after Moscow denied it was responsible.
Worries over a potential ratcheting up of geopolitical tensions spurred a drop of 1% in MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS).
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index (.TASI) dropped 1%, dragged down by a 0.9% fall in Retal Urban Development Co (4322.SE) and a 1.1% decline in oil giant Saudi Aramco (2222.SE).
The kingdom recorded an 85% year-on-year slump in second-quarter foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, an investment ministry report showed on Tuesday.
FDI inflows were at 7.9 billion riyals ($2.10 billion) in the second quarter, compared with about 51.9 billion riyals in the same period last year.
