Arab bourses lose $29bn in five days

Mounting tension in the Middle East because of US threats to attack Syria cost investors in Arab stock markets nearly $29 billion in just five days, offsetting their large gains through the year, according to official data.

The 14 official stock exchanges in the Arab region had profited nearly $78 billion in the first eight months of 2013 before they dipped sharply in the first five days of September following heightening prospects of a US strike against war-battered Syria.

Their combined market capitalization ended August at around $1,044 billion compared with nearly $966bn at the end of 2012, a gain of about $78bn.

The markets closed on Thursday at $1,015bn, losing nearly 29 billion in five days, one of the largest losses in two years in one working week.

Figures by the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), a key Arab League establishment, showed the bulk of the loss was in Gulf markets, which also recorded most of the gains during the first eight months given their large capitalization.

Saudi Arabia, the largest and busiest market in the Middle East, dipped by around $5bn to $406bn on Thursday from $411bn at end-August.
Qatar, the second largest bourse in the Arab world, also lost around $5bn to $147bn from $152bn, according to the AMF, which tracks regional markets.

Dubai’s bourse fell from $63.3bn to $60.9 billion while Abu Dhabi’s market shrank from $104.5bn to $102.2bn in the same period.

The smaller GCC markets of Oman and Bahrain lost around $500 million $44m respectively. The report said Kuwait’s bourse stood at $102.6bn on Thursday but it gave no figures for its capitalization in the previous period.

Outside the oil-rich Gulf, Egypt’s market fell by around $500m to nearly $51.6bn after losing around $six billion in the first eight months due to domestic unrest.

Morocco’s market, another large bourse outside the Gulf, slightly rebounded by just around $300m to $47.7bn on Thursday but it remained below its level of nearly $50.9bn at the start of the year.

The report showed Lebanon’s bourse in Beirut remained unchanged at $16.7bn while Tunisia’s market edged down from $9.02bn to $8.9bn.

The Palestinian exchange dipped slightly from $2.86bn to $2.85bn while Syria’s Damascus market remained at as low as $1.6bn.

 

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