• January 19, 2016

    توقعات سوق الأسهم السعودية في عام 2016

    Majority of the sectors underperformed during 2015, with Media & Publication, Transport, Energy and Utilities and Real Estate being the exceptions. According to Marmore’s KSA stock market outlook 2016, Saudi construction and cement were the worst hit sectors as they lost 34% and 30% respectively. The decline in banking sector index by 14.9% during 2015 establishes the challenges in the form of liquidity tightening, as a consequence of low oil prices and increased government borrowings that will impact the banking...

  • January 5, 2016

    أغلقت أسواق الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا على تراجع في 2015

      For the year 2015, Egypt declined 24%, due to faltering reforms and forex shortage, while Tadawul’s TASI index declined 17%. All MENA indices ended in red for the year 2015, with most witnessing double digit declines. Oil price fall, regional and global political developments, the recent Fed hike, and Eurozone woes were the much spoken themes for the year. S&P GCC declined 2.4% in December, making it a cumulative decline of 17.4% for 2015. MENA markets liquidity continued its...

  • December 15, 2015

    Top 20 GCC Mutual Funds 2015

    GCC markets are yet to recover following their retreat amid weaker oil prices. Saudi Arabia stocks were affected the most on concerns of deteriorating fiscal position and sustainability of finances. Saudi Index (TASI) declined by 16.6% YTD registering the highest loss among all GCC markets. The Dubai general index registered a loss of 14.6% as investors booked profits amid low international investor participation. Tepid earnings, negative investor sentiments following China crisis and impending U.S Fed hike continue to drag down...

  • December 14, 2015

    Free-falling oil prices torment MENA markets

      MENA markets liquidity continued its momentum in November, with volume increasing by 20% and value traded by 7.7%, post the lulled market activity in the last quarter. With the exception of Oman and Jordan, other MENA markets witnessed rise in market liquidity, with Bahrain, Kuwait, and the UAE leading the charge. Bahrain showed the most improvement with value traded increasing by 268% and volume traded increasing by 167%, after being the worst hit in Oct’15.       SABIC (KSA)...

  • December 13, 2015

    Reasons for poor Analyst Coverage in Kuwait

    The present scenario Compared to all other stock exchanges in the GCC the number of large- and mid- cap stocks, as per the above definition, is much lower in Kuwait, than in peer countries, whereas the number of small-cap stocks is over 91% of the market. Qatar has the most even cap divide, while Kuwait sits at the other end of the spectrum. In terms of analyst coverage (as a percentage of all stocks in the exchange), Kuwait is the...

  • November 18, 2015

    أسواق دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي – من الذي إستحدث القيمة على المدى المتوسط / الطويل؟

    The main goal of an investor or a money manager is to create wealth - be it through capital appreciation strategy, dividend strategy or a capital preservation strategy. Unfortunately over the last 10 year period (2005-October 2015) all but Muscat stock exchange failed to create wealth for investors . That said, looking at the 5 year data, UAE and Qatar posted remarkable returns compared to its peers. Dubai and Abu Dhabi posted 16% and 11% five year CAGR respectively while...

  • November 10, 2015

    ُشكل الإجراءات الضريبية مصدر قلق للأسواق

    According to Marmore’s recently released Monthly Market Review, MENA markets ended mostly in red during the month of October 2015. Abu Dhabi (-4.0%) suffered the most, followed by Saudi Arabia (-3.8%), Dubai (-2.5%) and Bahrain (-2.0%). Despite the increase in oil prices during October, the lower-than-expected oil prices continue to strain the MENA markets. The regional markets are also responding to instability in the global economy and anticipated monetary tightening in response to low oil prices.  KSA is contemplating spending...

  • September 17, 2015

    التمويل الإسلامي: مجالات للابتكار

    Islamic finance industry has evolved and grown considerably since its inception in a rudimentary form during 1960s. The focus of the Islamic finance industry during its initial stage of inception was to create customer awareness and product development. However, the increased recognition and awareness, along with high demand resulted in rapid growth in the value and transformation of the industry over the next few decades. The global Islamic finance industry realised $2.1tn of assets in 2014 and is gearing up...

  • September 14, 2015

    نشاط الدمج والاستحواذ في منطقة مجلس التعاون الخليجي – خلال الربع الثاني لعام 2015

    At the end of Q2 2015, GCC region witnessed 31 completed M&A deals (Markaz GCC M&A Report – Q2 2015). Though the number of transactions completed increased by 11% in Q1 2015, there was a decline by 9% compared to the same period in 2014. In continuation to the trend observed in the earlier periods, UAE and Saudi Arabia consistently dominate the M&A space in the region. UAE and Saudi Arabia collectively accounted for 65% of the transactions of the...

  • September 10, 2015

    متوسط التكلفة المرجح لرأس المال لدول مجلس التعاون الخليجي – مجموعة أدوات لممولي الشركات

    Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) assumes importance in corporate finance decision making. In the GCC, unlisted companies outnumber listed companies by miles and hence most of the deals involve unlisted companies in one way or other. Corporate finance professionals face twin problem while valuing an unlisted company. They have to estimate future cash flows and also estimate the appropriate “discount rate” at which these cash flows can be discounted to the present. Such a discount rate is nothing but...