Middle East Market Wrap 14 October: Riyadh Falls 1.74 Percent After the Aramco Headquarters Strike

By The Edge Research Team

Riyadh’s Tadawul All Share fell 1.74 percent on Wednesday with 252 of 273 stocks lower, a day after a strike that sources told Reuters caused extensive damage to Saudi Aramco’s headquarters, and Kuwait lost 1.40 percent, while five of the nine markets rose, led by Amman’s 0.98 percent. The Houthis vowed further attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities. Brent crude traded 0.47 percent above Tuesday’s settlement at 106.19 dollars a barrel on the 12:15 GMT reading.

Riyadh and Kuwait sell off as the attacks reach Aramco’s headquarters

The Tadawul All Share closed at 10,138.83, down 179.31 points, with 15 gainers against 252 decliners and turnover of 3.89 billion riyals. Tuesday night’s strike on Saudi Aramco’s base in Dhahran caused a fire that spread across several floors, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, after the energy ministry had described a limited fire; operations were continuing normally with employees working from home, two of the sources said. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh on Wednesday, and the capital’s airport remains closed until 17 October. On the exchange’s own panels, Watani Steel rose 9.97 percent for a second day of near-limit gains and the transportation sector’s 3.74 percent fall was the deepest among the sector indices.

Kuwait’s All-Share Index lost 1.40 percent to 8,533.60, ending a three-session rise, with the Premier Market down 1.38 percent and the Main Market 1.51; turnover was 69.9 million dinars across 21,757 trades. Qatar’s QE Index fell 0.68 percent to 8,931.13 on the exchange’s ticker, ending a two-session rise, with 296.4 million riyals traded, and Bahrain’s All Share eased 0.14 percent to 1,879.78, falling after a single gain.

Five markets rise, led by Amman, as Egypt snaps its slide

Amman’s ASE Index rose 0.98 percent to 4,222.01, a third straight gain and the day’s strongest move. Dubai’s DFM General added 0.58 percent to 5,892.57 in a fourth straight gain on 491.1 million dirhams of trading, and Abu Dhabi’s FTSE ADX General rose 0.41 percent to 9,833.59, a second straight gain, with 1.05 billion dirhams traded. Cairo’s EGX 30 climbed 0.44 percent to 51,492.83, snapping three straight declines, with 170 gainers against 37 decliners across the listed market, while the central bank’s average market rate for the dollar moved to 53.0544 pounds on the buy side, 0.53 percent weaker than Tuesday’s fixing. Muscat’s MSX 30 rose 0.35 percent to 7,755.303 on the exchange’s closed-label print, ending two sessions of declines, with 32 gainers against 14 decliners and turnover of 43.6 million rials.

Top gainers

Closes of Wednesday 14 October 2026 from the exchanges’ own pages, ranked highest to lowest against Tuesday’s closes as published; the Amman change is our arithmetic on the exchange’s unsigned banner, the Dubai row rounds the exchange’s 0.575, and the MSX 30 prints as the exchange prints it, at three decimals. Run lengths are counted against our published closes.

Top losers

Closes of Wednesday 14 October 2026, ranked shallowest to deepest against Tuesday’s closes as published; the Bahrain change is the exchange’s own figure on its index page, and the Qatar change is computed from the exchange’s ticker value.

Commodities and currencies

Intraday quotes at 12:15 GMT, in fixed order; snapshots, not settlements. The gold, Brent and WTI changes are against Tuesday’s settlements of 4,177.30, 105.69 and 94.14 dollars, as published in our Commodities Wrap of 13 October 2026; the silver change is against the feed’s prior settlement.

Official reference rates

The CBK row carries the central bank’s value dates as printed on its main indicators page. The CBE row is the average market series on the bank’s statistics page.

Asia, session of Wednesday 14 October

Carried from our Asia Market Wrap of Wednesday 14 October 2026, the gainer then the losers in its published order; the Nifty row is the exchange’s own figure.

Why it matters: The selloff was concentrated, not regional: Riyadh’s 15 gainers against 252 decliners matched the 8 October session’s 15 and exceeded its 249 on our published records, and Kuwait took the second-deepest fall, while five markets rose and both crude benchmarks traded higher against Tuesday’s settlements through the regional afternoon. Cairo’s rebound ran deeper than its index, with 170 stocks rising against 37 a day after 29 rose against 180. Of the nine markets we published today, Amman led at 0.98 percent and Riyadh lagged at 1.74.

Outlook: The September US consumer price index, which had not appeared at its 12:30 GMT slot, was published during the regional afternoon: prices rose 0.6 percent on the month and 3.7 percent on the year, above the 3.6 percent the morning’s survey consensus carried, with gasoline up 9.1 percent accounting for over half of the monthly rise and core prices up 0.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Morgan Stanley beat quarterly profit estimates on equity trading strength, Reuters reported. Our Europe wrap follows after the continental closes.

How these wraps are prepared: Methodology.

Sources: Boursa Kuwait, Saudi Exchange, Dubai Financial Market, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Qatar Stock Exchange, Bahrain Bourse, Muscat Stock Exchange, Amman Stock Exchange, The Egyptian Exchange, Central Bank of Kuwait, Central Bank of Egypt, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Reuters, CNBC, The Edge.

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