KUWAIT, Oct 23: Dozens of traders walked off the trading floor at the Kuwait Stock Exchange on Thursday and staged a demonstration to urge more government support for the financial sector amid fears of global recession.

The protest, the first of its kind since 2006, came ahead of a lower close on most markets in the Gulf region amid anxiety about the world financial crisis and as crude oil prices remained at less than half their 2008 peak.

The main index on the Kuwait exchange, the second largest stock market in the Arab world, finished down three per cent at 10,481.10 points, with several companies trading even below their nominal value.

All eight sectors in the market dropped, with the investment and banking sectors diving by 2.6 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively. Nasser al-Khorafi, chairman of Al-Khorafi Group, the largest in Kuwait, called on the government to rescue the market.

The government should swiftly intervene to rescue the bourse otherwise there will be a catastrophe, Khorafi told reporters.

The government should pump funds into the bourse because its fall will affect other sectors like industry, real estate and so on and will have serious social implications, he said.—AFP