Middle East stock markets continued to bleed losses at the start of trading on April 7, as the effects of US tariffs on numerous countries persist, Al-Eqtisadiah reported.

The Saudi Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) began trading with a decline of 2.2% to the level of 10,832 points, though it quickly reduced its losses to 0.9%, approaching the 11,000-point level. Trading volume exceeded SAR3.3bn ($879mn) during the first hour of trading.

The tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on countries worldwide have battered global financial markets, including the Saudi stock market, which witnessed a collective decline on April 6, when the index lost 6.8%, the largest rate of decline since the Covid-19 pandemic, while the point drop was about 805 points, the biggest decline since 2008.

Dubai's financial market index plunged about 6%, while the Nasdaq Dubai index lost 6.69%. The FADAX-15 index in Abu Dhabi fell by about 5%.

Dubai Financial Market losses approached 10% in three trading sessions and 15% since February.

The Muscat Stock Exchange dropped 0.25%, while the Qatar Stock Exchange fell 2.33%.

In Egypt, the main index "EGX 30" opened today's trading with a decline of 1.1%.

Meanwhile, in Iran, the Tehran Stock Exchange index fell by 26,961 units to settle at 2,746,859 units, Tasnim News Agency reported on April 7.

More than 20.3bn shares worth IRR81.01 trillion (approximately $778.9mn at the current street exchange rate of IRT104,000 per dollar) were traded in over 448,000 transactions.

Trading symbols FMELI (National Iranian Copper Industries), FULAD (Mobarakeh Steel) and VMELAT (Mellat Bank) had the most negative impact on the market thermometer, while VPASAR, FARS and VTEJARAT symbols rose, preventing a further drop in the stock market indicator.

In Iran's over-the-counter market, with 9.07bn securities traded worth IRR3,723.36 trillion in 311,000 transactions, the IFX index fell 93 units to stand at 24,747 units.

The report noted that IRR603bn of real money left the stock market today, while fixed income funds also faced an outflow of IRR900bn of liquidity.