Amman - Arab stock markets reflected mixed performance this week as investors, obsessed with global recession fears, resorted to speculative trading and hit-and-run tactics to avoid further losses, financial analysts said Friday.

"Speculation and short-term transactions were the prevalent state of affairs this week as investors continued to come under pressure of bad news coming from world markets," an Amman-based portfolio manager told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"Liquidity shortages, falling oil prices and profit-taking moves also continued to put downward pressure on regional markets, particularly in the oil-rich Gulf region," he said.

This inclination was apparent at the Saudi stock exchange, the Arab world's largest bourse, where panic trading prevailed over the past two days, wiping out part of the market's gains that reached 9 per cent over the past three weeks and pushed the Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) near to the 5,000-point level.

TASI shed 1.5 per cent this week, closing at 4,773.78 points. The Saudi benchmark is currently 0.6 per cent lower than the year's start, according to the weekly report of the Riyadh-based Bakheet Investment Group (BIG).

"The panic, which started at the insurance and agricultural sectors, extended to blue-chips like Petro-Rabigh, the price of which dipped
10 per cent this week," the report said.

"Moreover, investors are still worry about the reported uncertainty engulfing the distribution channels of the recent US economic stimulus plan involving 787 billion dollars," it added.

The BIG expected a spate of buying next week as investors make benefit from the low prices of Saudi stocks to rearrange their positions.

However, the group cautioned that the high prices scored by small- cap shares over the past weeks could precipitate a "harsh correction".

Jordanian shares continued their downward trend this week as the liquidity squeeze continued to bite, forcing investors to ignore the good results achieved by most of listed firms in 2008, analysts said.

The all-share price index of the Amman Stock Exchange lost 1.02 per cent this week, closing at 2,676 points, according to the ASE weekly report.

Kuwait's KSE all-share price index gained 1.1 per cent this week, closing at 6,688 points.

The benchmark price of the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi went up by 2 per cent this week, to close at 2,440 points. (dpa)