There’s been an almighty crash in the stock markets over the last couple of days with the Dow Jones Industrial Average index tumbling 1,175 points, or 4.6% to close down at 24,345.75 on Monday.

It regained 567 points by the end of the next day.

 Reportedly, this is because of the fear of an interest rate rise in the US and of a stronger global economy. This means that the economic stimulus that markets introduced during the financial crisis of 2008 will now be withdrawn, amid concern that such stimulus will overheat the economy.

 The rocky ride on the US stock market was followed by stock markets around the world- in the UK, the rest of Europe, Asia, Australia and even New Zealand to some extent, although it was closed on Tuesday because it was Waitangi Day.

But what has happened in the Middle East? While stock markets in that region showed some volatility the plunge was more limited. Dubai's stock market closed 1.5 per cent lower and Abu Dhabi's shed nearly 1 per cent in the region's third day of trading for the week.