Concerns over Yemen aggression weigh on Saudi Arabia’s biggest stock index

The value of Saudi Arabia’s major stock index, Tadawul, has taken a nosedive amid concerns over the ongoing war of aggression in Yemen.

Tadawul’s shares were down 1.31 percent before the markets closed on Monday in the western port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s commercial hub.

All stock market indexes were down in Saudi Arabia after trading time ended and the loss continued in aftermarket trading.

The fall came after the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya Hadath TV satellite channel aired videos of tanks loaded onto military trucks.

The channel claimed the tanks were “the arrival of reinforcements from the strike force to the [Yemeni] border.”

Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 — without a UN mandate — in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which currently controls the capital Sana’a and other major provinces, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

A major factor contributing to the slip in Saudi stocks market was declining global oil prices, experts say.

Brent crude slipped below USD 65 per barrel on Monday amid reports that US shale oil production was improving following a recent price rally that renewed concern about a worldwide supply surplus.

Saudi Arabia has been accused by several OPEC member states and Russia of manipulating oil prices, with Russia’s state-owned oil giant, Rosneft, accusing Riyadh of manipulating oil prices in the global markets for political reasons.