MENA

Flat MENA, Positive World

According to Marmore’s recently released Monthly Market Review, most MENA bourses rebounded from a positive start to 2017, to close the month of February in the red. Bahrain, Jordan and Qatar were the exceptions, with the respective indices closing the month at 3.5%, 2.2% and 1%. Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia were the laggards in February, falling by 4.8%, 2.5% and 1.8%, respectively. Kuwaiti Price and Weighted indices also fell by 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively. Profit taking dragged stock markets...

MENA Markets end 2016 on a positive note

According to Marmore’s recently released Monthly Market Review, MENA bourses had a positive month in December, with all markets ending the year in green. Morocco’s Casablanca Index led the charge rising 9.1 per cent, followed by Egypt’s HRMS index (7.2 per cent). Kuwait weighted and price indices had a positive month, with both climbing 3.5 per cent, amid a spurt in speculative trading ahead of the year-end. The Egyptian Index also registered the highest gains in the year, closing nearly...

GCC Markets Mixed, OPEC Deal Uncertain

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...

GCC Markets Fall Despite Oil Price Rise

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...

Oil Price Rebound Fails to Cheer GCC Markets

Blue Chips were mixed in August with DP World and Ooredoo gaining 8.8 percent and 8.1 percent respectively. Four of the top five gainers were from Qatar, with Qatar National Bank and Industries Qatar share prices up by 7.5 percent and 6.1 percent respectively. Investors flooded their investments into Qatari large caps after the announcement of FTSE to include them into the emerging markets index on 24th August 2016. Saudi stocks were at the bottom, National commercial bank (NCB) and...

MENA Markets Mixed, Oil Flat Post – Brexit

S&P GCC rose marginally by 1.1% in June, to close at 91 points. Global investor reaction to the Brexit outcome had unnerved GCC investors, and speculation over a possible contagion in Europe had led to panic driven trading in the last two weeks of June. Investors have become more risk averse as uncertainty continues to plague global markets. In terms of valuation, P/E of Morocco (16.8x), Jordan (14.2x) and Kuwait (13.5x) markets were the premium markets in the MENA region,...

MENA Markets Break its Correlation to Oil

S&P GCC also declined by 5.1% in May, to close at 90 points. Worries over contraction in the construction industry and possibility of rise in provisions and non-performing loans in regional banks made investors wary of taking long-term positions in banking and construction shares, despite positive Q1 results for the former. MENA markets liquidity had a negative month, with volumes decreasing by 32% and value traded falling by 7%. Morocco and Bahrain witnessed increases in both volume and value traded,...

Brent’s record rise sustains MENA momentum

Gulf markets have been gaining for the past couple of months, on the back of strong oil market performance, with the belief that the oil price movements have turned a corner. Investor focus has now shifted to the corporate earnings that are affected by the austerity measures, which were undertaken due to low oil prices. The TASI index performance was largely due to companies beating their first-quarter earnings estimates, as well as the surge in oil prices. The combined net...

MENA Markets March on Oil Rise

Egypt’s stocks rose in March, as the country’s central bank devalued its currency and stated that it would adopt a more flexible exchange-rate policy, to ease an acute dollar shortage that is hurting the economy. The devaluation, along with other measures, made stocks cheaper for both domestic and foreign investors, who went on a purchasing binge. The exchange closed the month at 687 points, up from 560 points in February, in what has been the single largest monthly gain in...

MENA Markets end 2015 in Red

  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...