Sunday 19 / May / 2024
Muscat: GCC equity markets witnessed its first decline in three months taking cues from the worst monthly performance in global equity markets this year, according to a new report.
“Despite a second half recovery, the MSCI World index was down 3.6% during August-2023 after a hawkish Fed led to fears of higher for longer rates with some economists even pricing in another rate hike this year and the first cut deep into next year,” Kamco Invest said in its Monthly GCC Market Report.
Weak data coming from China also affected sentiments across the board got exacerbated by the probability of a continued rate hike by the ECB in September-2023. China’s economic activity continued to slide with manufacturing activity contracting for the fifth consecutive month as government reforms and new targeted policies are yet to have a meaningful impact on markets and sentiments, it added.
The MSCI GCC Index witnessed a slightly steeper decline of 3.8 percent during the month led by a fall in four out of seven exchanges, including in Saudi Arabia. The decline came despite oil seeing gains for the third consecutive month on supply cuts and steady demand data.
Qatar was the worst performing market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) during August-2023 with a slide of 7 percent led by decline in almost all indices on the exchange. Kuwait and Bahrain followed with declines of 3.4 percent and 2 percent while Saudi’s TASI was down by 1.7 percent. The declines in Qatar wiped off all gains since the start of the year to report the biggest decline in the GCC at 4.6 percent followed by Abu Dhabi and Kuwait both at 3.9 percent declines. On the other hand, Dubai was the best performing market with a year to date (YTD) 2023 gain of 22.4 percent followed by Saudi Arabia at 9.7 percent.
The GCC sector chart showed declines in most sectors with healthcare leading at –11.6 percent followed by F&B and telecom. Banks and material were down by 3.9 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, while Insurance and Energy showed gains of 5.9% and 4.4%, respectively.
Boursa Kuwait
Boursa Kuwait closed August-2023 with the second-biggest monthly decline of 3.4% to close at 7,005.84 points led by consistent declines during the month. The decline was mainly led by large-cap stocks including Banks with the corresponding index reporting the third-biggest decline this month. In terms of market segments, the Premier Market Index witnessed the biggest monthly decline of 4.5 percent during August-2023 as the performance of most of the constituent stocks in the index declined.
The Main 50 Index and the Main Market Index reported relatively small monthly gain of 1.1 percent. The declines affected YTD-2023 performance for the market with the All-Share Index showing the second-biggest decline in the GCC at -3.9 percent. The Premier Market index declined by 5.2 percent since the start of the year, whereas the Main 50 Index receded 1.5 percent vs. 1.7 percent gain for the Main Market Index.
Saudi Arabia (Tadawul)
Saudi Arabia’s headline equity index, TASI, reported monthly decline during August-2023 reflecting recent earnings announcements that affected investor sentiments despite elevated energy prices. The benchmark TASI peaked at a closing high of 11,636 points at the beginning of the month but mostly trended downward during the rest of the month to close with a decline of 1.7 percent at 11,491.2 points. However, Saudi Arabia ranked second in the GCC in terms of YTD-2023 performance with a gain of 9.7 percent. During the month, Saudi Arabia's Lumi, one of the largest auto rental firms in the Kingdom and a wholly-owned unit of Seera Group, announced plans to proceed with an IPO on the Saudi Exchange. The firm set its IPO price range between SAR 62 and SAR 66 per share. Lumi expects to issue 16.5 million existing shares, resulting in a free float of 30 percent.
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange
The FTSE ADX index edged up by 0.2 percent during August-2023 closing the month at 9,810.2 points and recording its third consecutive monthly gain. In terms of sectoral indices, the picture was even as five out of the ten sectors recorded growth during the month while the remaining five recorded declines. On the gainers’ side, the healthcare index witnessed the biggest monthly gain registering 19.3 percent growth to close the month at 3,607.9 points mainly due to Burjeel Holding’s 27.5 percent share price growth during August-2023. The Consumer Discretionary index followed with 11.7 percent index gain to close the month at 9,131.1 points mainly due to the 17.3 percent share price gain of Abu Dhabi National Hotels Co. Three out of the five constituent companies of the Consumer Discretionary sector witnessed gains in share prices during the month. On the decliners’ side, the Telecommunications index led the way with a 10.8 percent slide during the month to close the month at 4,946.2 points followed by the Consumer Staples index which witnessed a 3.4 percent fall during August-2023.
Dubai Financial Market
The DFM General Index witnessed a monthly gain of 0.6 percent during August-2023 to close at 4,082.87 points registering its fifth consecutive monthly gain. Monthly index performance was mixed during the month after five out of the eight indices witnessed declines during August-2023 while the remaining three indices saw gains to offset the overall decline during the month.
Qatar Exchange
After posting gains during the previous month, the Qatar Stock Exchange reported the biggest month-on-month decline during August-2023. The QE 20 index closed the month at 10,194.7 points witnessing a decline of 7.0 percent, almost in-line with the performance of the Qatar All Share Index that reported a monthly decline of 6.7 percent to close at 3,436.68 points. With the decline during August-2023, the YTD-2023 returns for the QE 20 index was slashed to a decline of 4.6 percent, the biggest in the GCC, and the QE All Share index reported a YTD-2023 decline of 0.4 percent. In terms of listings, the month saw the listing of MEEZA in the Consumer Goods & Services sector, the third listing for the year.
Bahrain Bourse
The Bahrain Bourse All Share Index recorded the biggest monthly decline in five months during August-2023 with a fall of 2.0 percent to close the month at 1,952.2 points. In terms of sectoral performance, the picture was mixed since four out of the seven sector indices witnessed declines during the month.
