Saudi bourse sees biggest fall in over a year

Saudi Arabia’s stock market had its biggest intraday fall in over a year on Monday as it extended losses from the previous session following drone attacks.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen said its air defences destroyed a drone targeting Najran airport in the south of Saudi Arabia, state media reported on Sunday.

Yemen’s Iranian-aligned Houthi movement said on Saturday it had fired 14 drones at several Saudi Arabian cities, including at Saudi Aramco facilities in Jeddah. read more

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index (.TASI) fell 2.7 per cent, its biggest intraday fall since Oct. 2020, with Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE) down 4.5 per cent and Saudi National Bank (1180.SE), the kingdom’s biggest lender, retreating 3.7 per cent.

The Saudi-led coalition said it detected indications of an imminent danger to navigation and global trade south of the Red Sea, Saudi state media reported early on Monday.

Among other losers, Aramco (2222.SE) dropped 1.8 per cent.

The oil giant was also under pressure after India’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS) said on Friday it had decided with Aramco to reevaluate Aramco’s proposed roughly $15 billion investment in Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business.