DOHA: Qatar, the second largest equity market in the GCC in terms of capitalisation, lost $2.5bn from its capitalisation in February. However, the combined market capitalisation of all GCC bourses grew 0.1 percent month-on-month to $767.8bn in February, the Global Investment House’s February GCC Markets Performance report noted.
The GCC performance was mixed with four markets gaining while three declining during the month. Saudi Arabia, the largest GCC market, lost $2.3bn from its capitalisation in February compared with the previous month.
The Tadawful All Share Index’s (TASI) market capitalisation of $381.6bn was equivalent to 49.7 percent of the total GCC capitalisation. UAE (Abu Dhabi and Dubai) markets added $5.7bn in their capitalisation in February.
The overall trading activity in GCC countries declined on month-on-month basis in February. Barring Qatar and Oman, all GCC markets recorded a fall in the value traded. The Saudi market witnessed a decline of 7.8 percent m-o-m to $31.5bn during the month, while the UAE markets saw a fall of 9.2 percent m-o-m to $3.3bn. Saudi Arabia accounted for 84.5 percent of the total value traded during the month, while the UAE markets contributed 8.8 percent to the total value traded. The overall volumes declined 2.8 percent m-o-m to 24.1bn shares primarily due to a 14.6 percent m-o-m decline in volumes in the UAE markets.
The report noted Qatari market underperformed other GCC bourses, declining 2.3 percent after increasing 4.4 percent in the previous month. TASI declined 0.6 percent in February and consolidated below 7,000 as investors were awaiting another set of triggers following the announcement of good corporate results and an expansionary budget. Abu Dhabi’s ADX index was the best performer with a gain of 5.7 percent.
The Peninsula
