Amman - Arab stock markets tumbled this week in response to the collapse of the US Lehman Brothers bank, and financial analysts said Friday they did not exclude further repercussions on regional markets.

"The direction of markets is unclear," Nizar Taher, chief of brokerage at the Jordan Ahli Bank told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"Arab markets reacted violently to latest developments in the United States, an indication that there are investors who work in the two regions," he said.

Amman  - Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi on Monday referred six new firms involved in trading with foreign bourses and currency markets to the State Security Court (SSC) on "suspected fraud", an official statement said.

The move brought to eight the number of firms referred to the SSC in a week under the provisions of the Economic Crimes Law after thousands of Jordanian citizens claimed the companies failed to repay them tens of millions of dollars they deposited with them.

Amman- Jordan and Russia on Monday urged Israel to stop all practices that could "derail" the peace process, including settlement activity in the Palestinian territories, an official statement said.

The remark came during a meeting between Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir and the Russian Middle East envoy Alexander Saltanov.

Amman - The deficit in Jordan's balance of trade grew by 43.4 per cent in the first seven months of the year, to 4.222 billion dinars (5.96 billion dollars) from 2.944 billion dinars in the same period of 2007, according to official statistics released Saturday.

The trade deficit expansion was blamed by economists mainly on a 38.2 per cent rise in imports, which stood at 7.259 billion dinars in the first seven months of 2008 compared with 5.252 billion dinars in the same period of last year.

Amman- Arab stocks plunged across the board this week amid sell-offs particularly by foreign funds that reflected receding investors' confidence and concerns resulting from falling oil prices, financial analysts said Friday.

"I believe dumping of stocks by foreign funds has created a negative sentiment at regional markets that prompted panic sell- offs," Wajdi Makhamreh, Chief Operating Officer at the Amman-based Sanabel International Holding, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Amman- Swicorp, a diversified financial services firm based in Saudi Arabia, acquired a 20-per-cent interest in Jordan Aviation for 180 million dollars, the airline's president and CEO Mohammad Khashman was quoted as saying Thursday by Jordanian daily al-Rai.

The takeover is part of Jordan Aviation's expansion plan which also involves the purchase of 16 new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars, he said.

"Two aircraft have already been introduced into the service while eight will start operating in the coming months and six others before the end of the year," Khashman said.