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Most GCC equity markets reported marginal gains during September, according to the GCC Markets Monthly Report by Kamco Invest. Dubai, however, fell 2 percent.
Qatar and Bahrain were the best performing markets during the month with gains of more than 3 percent. In terms of year-to-date (YTD) performance, the Abu Dhabi exchange, ADX, leads with a return of nearly 53 percent, one of the highest globally. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait markets followed with gains of 32 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
UAE
The Abu Dhabi exchange continued positive during September, recording gains, albeit marginal for the 12th consecutive month. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) Index edged up 0.2 percent to close at 7698.82 points.
Sector performance was split between gainers and losers, although the size of the declines was skewed towards small-cap sectors that were offset by marginal gains in large-cap sectors.
Volumes traded rose slightly to 4.97 billion shares while value traded rose 63 percent to 47.3 billion dirhams.
Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index declined 2 percent in September. The DFMGI benchmark closed at 2,845.50 points after declining consistently during the month. YTD the index has gained 14.2 percent as of end September, the fifth highest in the GCC.
All sectors, barring banks reported declines. Banks rose 0.5 percent supported by a 17 percent rise in Mashreq Bank.
Trading activity on the exchange fell compared to previous month. Total volume of shares traded fell 23 percent to reach 2.5 billion shares in September. Total value fell 9 percent to reach 3.6 billion dirhams.
Saudi Arabia
The Tadawul TASI index rose 1.6 percent, up for the ninth consecutive month. The index traded above the 11,000 points mark to close the month at 11,495.8 points.
The YTD performance stood at over 32 percent at the end of the month, the second highest in the GCC and among of the best globally. Gains during the month were led by positive investor sentiments that reflected the announcements of new IPOs and listings on the exchange.
Trading activity saw a month-on-month decline. Monthly volume of shares traded fell nearly 9 percent to reach 3.9 billion shares. The value of shares traded also fell over 4 percent to reach 147.8 million riyals.
Kuwait
Kuwait’s equity market was up for the seventh consecutive month during September but unlike the previous months when large-cap stocks outperformed, the gains were mainly led by mid-caps and small-cap stocks.
The Main 50 Index gained 1.5 percent, outperforming the Premier Market index which rose 0.9 percent. The broader Main Market index rose 2 percent resulting in a 1.1 percent monthly gain for the All Share Index.
Kuwait remained the third-best performing market in the GCC in terms of YTD-2021 returns that stood at 23.8 percent for the All Share Index.
Total volume traded fell over 14 percent to 5.8 billion shares. Monthly value traded also declined 22 percent to reach 991 million Kuwaiti dinars.
Qatar
The Qatar Stock Exchange reported the second best gains among GCC markets.
The QE20 benchmark index closed the month at 11,485.2 points, up 3.5 percent, while the Qatar All Share Index closed at 3,620.7 points, showing a smaller gain of 2.7 percent.
Industrials topped the sector performance chart for September, while Insurance led the decliners.
Trading activity declined compared with August, with traded volume falling to 3.7 billion shares compared with 4.3 billion shares. Total value traded fell to 9.4 billion riyals from 9.6 billion riyals in the previous month.
Bahrain
The Bahrain Bourse gained for the sixth consecutive month. Bahrain All Share Index rose 3.7 percent to 1,705.6 points.
In terms of YTD performance, the broad-based gains during September further supported the benchmark’s gains to 14.5 percent, ranking fourth in the GCC this year.
Trading activity on the exchange fell m-o-m during September, down 2.5 percent to 77.3 million shares. Monthly value traded also declined by over 9 percent to 18.5 million dinars.
Oman
The Omani stock market declined for the third consecutive month and was the one of the two markets, including Dubai, in the GCC to close in the red.
The MSM 30 Index fell 0.6 percent to 3,942.5 points after declines during the first half of the month were only partially offset by marginal gains recorded towards the end of the month
In terms of YTD performance, the index showed returns of 7.8 percent at the end of September, the lowest in the GCC.
Sector performance remained mixed during the month with declines for Financials and gains for the Industrial index.
Total volume of shares traded during the month rose 7.8 percent to 303.7 million shares. Monthly value traded rose 10 percent to reach 61.9 million Omani rials.
(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
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