Petrochemical shares dragged down Saudi Arabia’s stock market on Tuesday as oil prices continued to slide, prompting profit-taking across a wide range of sectors in the Gulf.

The Saudi stock index sank 1.8 per cent as Brent crude oil plunged below $46 a barrel in Asian trading hours to its lowest level in nearly six years.

The Saudi petrochemical sector, which faces direct damage to its earnings from low oil prices, dropped 2.3 per cent.

But other sectors also dropped; although Gulf bourses have in the last few weeks become somewhat more comfortable with the oil price slide and are no longer panicking, the uncertainty over where and when oil will bottom still weighs on investors.

Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co lost 2.1 per cent after reporting a 3 per cent drop in fourth-quarter net profit to 779 million riyals ($208 million), below the average forecast by analysts of 893 million riyals.

Outperformers

Banks again outperformed after a string of strong earnings from the sector. Banque Saudi Fransi was flat after it reported a three-fold rise in net profit to 851 million riyals for the quarter, above analysts’ forecast of 780 million riyals.

Samba Financial Group climbed 1.0 per cent after posting a 22.5 per cent rise in profit to 1.23 billion riyals, beating the average forecast of 1.09 billion riyals.

Amana Insurance jumped 5.3 per cent; small Saudi insurance stocks are often volatile and moved around sharply by retail investors.

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