Gulf stocks fall on Brexit vote

Kuwait City - Stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf states dropped on Sunday in the first trading session after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

All seven Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets were closed for the Muslim weekend on Friday when the result of the British referendum was announced.

Share prices in most Gulf markets dropped sharply at the start of trading on Sunday, but had recovered some of the losses by the close.

The Dubai Financial Market began the day by sliding 5%, but the index - the Gulf bourse most exposed to international markets - finished the day down 3.25%.

At one stage, investment companies fell 8% and real estate dropped 5%.

Saudi stocks dropped 4.1% at the opening but recovered to close down just 1.1%. All 15 sectors were in negative territory.

The Qatar Exchange fell 1.25%, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange dropped 1.85% and the Kuwait Stock Exchange closed 1.1% lower.

The tiny bourses of Oman and Bahrain ended the day down 0.6% and 0.7% respectively.

The six GCC states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - have hundreds of billions of investments in Britain and other members of the European Union.

They have large interests in the British real estate market and thousands of Gulf citizens own homes in Britain.

Britain also has sizable real estate interests in Dubai and more than a million British tourists visit the UAE annually.