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Qatar index sees biggest fall since July

The Doha benchmark ended 2.3 percent lower at 7,135 points, its biggest one-day decline since mid-July, as markets across the Gulf Arab region posted sharp losses.

Qatar National Bank took the most points off the index, falling 2.8 percent. Heavyweight Industries Qatar fell 3.5 percent.
In Kuwait, the benchmark ended down 1.2 percent at 7,348 points, with Zain losing 3.3 percent.

Kuwait Finance House and Gulf Bank fell 1.6 and 1.5 percent respectively, while Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait declined 2 percent.

Bahrain's main index ended 0.6 percent lower at 1,526 points.

UAE markets closed sharply lower, with both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi benchmarks posting their biggest one-day losses since mid-August.

Emaar Properties slumped 6 percent, while construction firm Arabtec, which posted third-quarter results that were in line with expectations, fell 5.3 percent.

Shares in Dubai Financial Market fell 8.6 percent, with the benchmark ending 3.9 percent lower at 2,198 points. On Wednesday, DFM reported a 67 percent drop in nine-month profit.

In Abu Dhabi, Sorouh Real Estate lost 6 percent after earlier posting a 75 percent decline in third-quarter profit.

The index ended 2.4 percent lower at 3,023 points.

Hamdy said volumes both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are low, meaning that the markets should easily recoup their losses once a recovery kicks in.

Cement firms led losses on the Muscat bourse, which ended 1.7 percent lower, in line with other Gulf Arab markets that tracked declines in global stocks and where investors worry about weak earnings.

"They are afraid of the earnings," said Alaa El Din Moustafa, head of retail and individual traders at EFG-Hermes in Muscat, adding that trading volumes are below average.

Raysut Cement and Oman Cement Co fell 4.7 percent and 3.3 percent respectively.

"We expect pricing pressure in the domestic market going forward with anecdotal evidence of cement dumping by some of the UAE cement companies in Oman," NBK Capital said in a research note.

Heavyweight Bank Muscat lost 1.4 percent.

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