Stock Market

Oil revenues & private sector growth to speed up GCC economic recovery in 2022

As the world charts its recovery from COVID-19’s impact, businesses and trade around the world begin to hit normalcy, reviving the global demand for oil and consequently the global oil prices. As of August’21, price of IPE Brent is up nearly 41% year to date. OPEC+ is firm on its stance of cutting oil production until mid-2022, this is set to support global oil prices and provide renewed vigour for GCC economies. According to Institute of International Finance (IIF), the...

Foreign investment in Saudi stock market up by 150%

It is reported that the foreign investment in the Kingdom's stock market increased by more than 150 percent by the end of Q2 2021, compared to late 2018. Banking, basic materials, energy and communications attracted the most foreign investment. This can be attributed to the Saudi Arabia’s efforts to develop the financial market and expand the institutional investment base. The value of foreign investment in Saudi Stock Market was USD 73.6 billion in 2021Q2 comprising mainly of Qualified Foreign Investors...

Oil Price Move yet to lift Saudi Aramco’s Share Price

Saudi Aramco the blue chip of Saudi Arabia and the world’s largest oil company took a drop in its stride last year post Covid-19 as oil demand slumped and OPEC+ which is led by Saudi Arabia agreed to sharp cut in oil exports by 9.7mmbpd effective May 2020 from an October 2018 baseline (with Saudi output cut from 12.3 mmbpd in March 2020 to 8.5 mmbpd) to shore up and stabilize the oil prices in the international market. In line...

الاستفسارات الشائعة’s: Break-even Oil price

1. What is Break even oil price? What does an increasing or decreasing BEOP mean? Fiscal breakeven oil price (BEP) can be defined simply as the “oil price that balances an oil‐exporting country’s budget. Ever since the fall of Brent crude prices in mid – 2014, the GCC countries have envisioned various plans to reduce their dependence on oil revenues. The COVID-19 pandemic sent oil prices tumbling owing to a global lockdown and travel restrictions in place since March 2020....

Boursa Kuwait’s stock surges on its trading debut – Has privatization been a success?

Boursa Kuwait Securities Company has surged more than 10 times since it debuted on the Kuwait Premier Market index on September 14th when it became only the third stock exchange in the MENA region to be listed after the Dubai Financial Market and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Share prices rose as high as 1,210 fils and closed the day at 1,055 fils after being priced at 100 fils during the IPO last year. As part of the IPO, 50% of...

COVID-19 may force GCC companies to cut dividend payout

Dividend payments have been an important tool to get investors to buy shares of companies as dividends provide a return on investment even during periods when the markets are down. GCC Companies listed on stock exchanges have provided consistent dividends in recent years. Due to Covid-19, many GCC Companies may be forced to cut dividend payouts due to fall in earnings and need to preserve cash. We examine the impact on dividends due to the pandemic and its ramifications for...

Impact of Covid-19 on GCC REITs

The GCC has seen a number of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) listed in stock exchanges in the past few years. This accelerated after Saudi Arabia’s أسواق المال Authority (CMA) approved the listing of REITs in 2016 as a part of the National Transformation Program (NTP) and Saudi Vision 2030. Due to the economic crisis in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, many of the listed REITs have seen a steep decline in their share prices and market capitalisations. Saudi...

أهمية الضوابط في كبح التقلبات

Stock markets around the world and the GCC have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with massive volatility, as traders have been panic selling out of fear driving the indices down. The Boursa Kuwait All Share Index (BKAT) saw huge falls on March 8 and March 9 when the BKAT fell 9.1% and 9.4% respectively due to the oil price crash and coronavirus fears. Due to this, Boursa Kuwait has announced that from March 15, the security circuit breaker would be...

الأسواق الخليجية المختلطة، اتفاق أوبك غير المؤكد

Selling pressure created by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) led to the fall in the Muscat index, while sharp fall seen in the Dubai index was attributed to profit booking, due to volatility in the international commodities and currency market. In terms of valuation, P/E of Morocco (18x), Qatar (14.3x) and Jordan (14.2x) markets were the premium markets in the MENA region, while the markets of Egypt (8.5x), Dubai (8.8x), and Oman (9.3x) were the discount markets. Blue Chips also had...

تشهد الأسواق الخليجية انخفاضُا رغم ارتفاع أسعار النفط

Although the oil price rose by over 4 per cent, on the back of the OPEC agreement to limit crude output, Saudi index fell considerably after the Saudi government announced that it was reducing salaries and allowances for public sector employees. Many investors believe that additional austerity steps, such as new fees or taxes on the kingdom's large workforce of foreigners, could also be approved soon. Middle East fund managers have turned negative towards Saudi Arabian equities for the next...