The Kuwaiti market has lost more than 43 per cent since June 24 [AFP]

The court issued its ruling on Thursday after a lawsuit filed on behalf of an investor who claimed he had incurred heavy losses on the Kuwait market over the past few weeks.

This week alone across the seven markets of the oil-rich Gulf states, about $100bn has been wiped off share values to around $650bn, about 42 per cent down from $1.116 trillion last year.

Thursday is the last trading day of the week in Kuwait, where the market has been trading at 40-month lows over concerns about a global recession and problems at local institutions.

When trading was halted, the KSE Index had shed 1.8 per cent, dragged down by the banks and investment sectors.

The court ruling said the order was issued to spare investors from heavy losses, finding that the stock-exchange management failed to take any measures to boost the flagging market.

Other markets fall

Other Gulf markets also fell on Thursday, most of them for the sixth straight trading day.

The Dubai Financial Market ended down 4.9 per cent at 2,106.14 points, its lowest in more than four years.

It plunged 24.7 per cent over the week, one of the worst losses ever, and is down 64.5 per cent on the year.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange dropped 1.5 per cent to 2,765.07 despite a 0.6 per cent rise in the real estate market. Most other sectors were lower with banking down 2.8 percent and energy dropping 4.6 per cent.

The ADX has lost 16.8 per cent over the week.

The Doha Securities Market retreated 2.6 per cent to 5,886.12 points, a weekly drop of 20.5 per cent.

The Muscat Securities Market lost 2.4 per cent and the Bahrain Stock Exchange 0.9 per cent.

The Saudi market, the largest in the Arab world, closed the week on Wednesday slightly up on the day but down 10 per cent on the week.

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