Gulf markets decline in 6 months as oil prices drop

The Gulf markets dropped in the past six months after investors noticed that a decline in oil prices might affect most sectors, a specialized economic report said on Sunday.
Dubai stock market dropped by 13 percent in the same period, said the report by Kuwait China Investment Company.
Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabia stock markets fell by 8 percent each and stock markets of Qatar and Bahrain declined by one percent and two percent respectively, it noted.
Economies of China, India, Japan and South Korea benefited from the falling oil prices, it said, pointing out that there was a rise in the performances of stock markets of these countries since last June.
According to the report, with the increasing confidence in the new Indian government and its reforms, it took advantage of the falling oil prices and cut its fuel subsidy.
China's stock market depended on stimulating governmental programs and reforms made for the financial sector, it stated, indicating a drop in oil prices affected positively forecasts of Chinese companies. So the more oil prices decline, the more Asian markets perform well.
The global economy was stable in the last period, it said, noting that markets are driven by two factors: Decline in oil prices, which is in favor of countries that import energy and non-oil sectors, and rise in USD by 10 percent.
According the report, the US dollar rose due to the end of the quantitative easing programs by US Federal Reserve and expansion policies approved by European Central Bank and the Bank of Japanese.
The value of USD has a negative impact on most free-floating currencies, it noted.