Saudi Aramco shares fall below IPO price for first time, Gulf stocks plummet after OPEC deal failure

Shares of Saudi state oil giant Aramco traded below their original IPO price for the first time Sunday, at 30.90 riyals ($8.24) at 12:30 p.m. in Riyadh compared to the listing price of 32 riyals in December. That’s down 6.36% on the day.

Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange, the Tadawul, was down 7.7% in afternoon trading after plans to orchestrate a supply cut among OPEC and non-OPEC states collapsed amid investor fears surrounding the fast-spreading coronavirus. 

Aramco became the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company when its share price gave it a record valuation of $1.7 trillion after 1.5% of the enormous firm was listed on the local stock exchange late last year.

Stock markets across the rest of the Gulf also fell dramatically during Sunday trading. 

Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait indexes were all down several percentage points following the market open; the Abu Dhabi index fell 5.8%, Dubai’s Financial Market General Index was down 7.47% and Kuwait’s index had plunged by 10% at 1:30 p.m. Dubai time. 

Regional markets have been left shaky after OPEC and non-OPEC allies on Friday failed to agree on how much oil production to cut, with Russia reportedly refusing to give the green light to the deepest supply cuts since the global financial crisis. 

International and U.S. oil benchmarks traded at multi-year lows on Friday, with Brent crude closing at $45.27, down more than 9%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate sank more than 10% lower to $41.28, its lowest level since 2016.

The numbers paint a picture of investors worried about the global demand outlook as the deadly coronavirus, which has killed at least 3,507 people and sickened more than 103,000, slows economic productivity and trade around the world.

— CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.