Kuwait, City(ANN)+ Major stock markets in the Middle East keep suffering record losses amid Iranian promises for a harsh revenge against the United States over the assassination of a senior military commander.
Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian stocks led losses on Sunday while markets in the United Arab Emirates, where major international companies list their shares, followed the suit.
The index in Kuwaiti stock was down nearly 4.1% with shares of Kuwait Finance House and National Bank of Kuwait down %5.1 and %2.8 respectively.
Saudi stocks .TASI plunged %2.2 while state-run oil company Aramco, the largest in the world, suffered a loss of %1.7 to see its shares traded at 34.55 riyals, a record low since the company launched its initial public offering (IPO) in early December.
Indices at Dubai’s .DFMGI and Abu Dhabi’s .ADI also dropped %3.1 and %1.41, respectively.
A similar falling trend has been seen in almost all major stock markets across the world since early Friday when the United States launched a strike on the convoy of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds force, while he was leaving the airport in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Soleimani, a high-profile figure in years of anti-terror fight in the Middle East, was assassinated along nine other Iranian and Iraqi military and militia fighters and commanders.
The assassination has sparked a massive panic in the region, especially in the Arab countries supportive of the US presence in the Mideast, as they fear a harsh Iranian response could put their interests at serious risk.
Iran has vowed that its reprisal would be decisive and would come at its right time and place.
Stocks in Mideast suffer major losses as Iran vows to retaliate commander’s death, reported Presstv.