GCC markets give up some gains in August: Markaz

Business Tuesday 04/September/2018 15:50 PM
By: Times News Service
GCC markets give up some gains in August: Markaz

Muscat:The month of August has halted the positive momentum, amongst majority of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets including Kuwait, which prevailed in the recent months as the investors booked profits, a new report said.
Turmoil in Turkey and pull out of much and long awaited initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco contributed to the negative sentiment, Kuwait Financial Centre's (Markaz's) recently released Monthly Markets Review report, said.
Kuwait all share index lost 0.7 per cent for the month. Despite the losses registered in this month, Saudi Arabian and Kuwait indices’ returns for the year remained healthy at 10.0 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively.
Among Kuwait’s blue chip companies, Zain was the leading decliner, down by 1.9 per cent during the month while Boubyan Bank share price moved upwards, gaining 2.5 per cent in August. The decline in Zain stock was due to investors partially booking profits after it posted strong financials earlier during the month.
The S&P GCC index was down 2.5 per cent for the month, reducing the overall gains for the year to 9.6 per cent. During the month of August, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index lost 4.2 per cent as selling pressure from foreign investors intensified.
Abu Dhabi index was the best performer in the region for the month, gaining 2.6 per cent and pushing its year-to-date returns to 13.4 per cent. This was in sharp contrast to the Dubai market, which lost 3.9 per cent for the month, extending its losses to 15.7 per cent for the year. In terms of year-to-date performance, Qatar index delivered 16.0 per cent since the beginning of the year making it the best performing market across emerging and developed markets globally. Qatar markets continued to remain strong post Moody’s decision to change the country’s sovereign outlook from negative to stable.
Ezdan Holdings and First Abu Dhabi Bank were the top performers among GCC blue chip companies, rising by 14.4 per cent and 8.8 per cent during the month respectively. The First Abu Dhabi Bank posted strong financials during the first half of 2018. The group’s net profit rose by 10 per cent year-on-year to AED6.1 billion (US$1.16 billion). The biggest lender in the UAE is also expected to have its weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index doubled to almost 0.2 per cent in November. Ezdan Holding Group too saw a surge in profits by 52.5 per cent in second quarter of 2018 as compared to same period last year. Ezdan's net profits amounted to QAR320.11 million (US$88.4 million) in the period between April to June.
MSCI EM index also remained under selling pressure, as investors’ appetite remained weak due to global uncertainties like emerging market (EM) currency depreciation against USD, trade war concerns, etc. MSCI EM index closed 2.9 per cent down. On the other hand, MSCI World index ended the month on a positive note, registering 1.0 per cent gain for the month.