Middle East and North Africa (Enmaeya News) — Arab financial markets closed sharply lower on Sunday, June 15, 2025, as tensions between Israel and Iran escalated. Egypt’s stock market suffered the largest losses, followed by Kuwait and Qatar, while oil, gold, and Bitcoin prices surged amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.

Fears of military escalation sparked a widespread sell-off across Arab stock exchanges. Egypt’s EGX30 index dropped 4.6% to close at 31,016 points, after initial losses of 120 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.41 billion) within the first 15 minutes of trading narrowed to 94 billion pounds ($1.89 billion) by session end. Other Egyptian indexes also fell sharply, with EGX70 down 5.19% and EGX100 down 5.1%.

Kuwait’s market declined 3.9%, closing at 8,309 points. Shares of Jazeera Airways plunged nearly 10%, impacted by airspace closures and suspended flights. Qatar’s stock market lost 3.2%, with 52 companies seeing share declines. The market capitalization shrank by 22.57 billion Qatari riyals ($6.2 billion), closing at 604.5 billion riyals ($166 billion).

Despite losses in stocks, oil prices jumped more than 7% last week, with Brent crude reaching $74.23 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $72.98. Experts warn prices could reach $150 per barrel if the conflict intensifies further. JPMorgan Chase projects oil could surge to $130 per barrel amid worsening tensions.

Gold prices rose 1.4% to $3,432 per ounce, while Bitcoin increased 0.46% to $105,500, pushing its market capitalization above $2 trillion.

In the U.S., Treasury bonds benefited from investor flight to safety, with the yield on 10-year notes falling three basis points to 4.33%.