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- Dubai 04:20 05:42 12:28 15:53 19:08 20:30
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Gulf Arab bourses performed well in February as market gainers far outnumbered losers and shares remained one of the most attractive investment instruments in the oil-rich region, according to market reports. But the number of traded shares and their value sharply declined during the month though dealers said the decline did not reflect real performance. Figures released periodically by the stock markets in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) showed 379 listed companies recorded increases in their share prices while 142 suffered a decline and 188 stocks remained unchanged. The gainers, termed by some reports as advancers, recorded dealing of nearly 21.1 million of their shares while around 3.17 million shares were traded for the decliners and 2.1 million for those unchanged. “The breadth of GCC stock markets was skewed towards advancers during February as 379 stocks registered monthly gains compared to 142 decliners,” said Global Investment House, citing GCC market reports. “The strong buying interest in the Saudi market can be seen from the fact that the Kingdom’s bourse saw 78 advancers compared to only 24 decliners…. advancers in the other GCC markets also surpassed decliners.” In the UAE, there were 74 gainers against 18 decliners and 28 unchanged while on the Kuwait bourse, there were 99 gainers, 69 decliners and 27 unchanged. Qatar’s Doha Securities Market was also dominated by advancers, which stood at 27 compared with 12 decliners and two unchanged. There were also 29 advancers and eight decliners in Bahrain and 72 gainers and 11 losers in Oman. But according to the report, the combined turnover in the GCC was far lower in February, standing at $91.7 billion (Dh336bn) compared with $136.7bn in January. The number of traded shares also dived to 26.4 billion from 39.9 billion. Saudi Arabia accounted for more than half the value of traded shares in February, with a turnover of more than $57.8bn. It was followed by the UAE, with around $17.1bn and Kuwait with $12.7bn. By the end of February, the market capitalisation of the GCC bourses totalled around $1.15 trillion, including nearly $491bn in Saudi Arabia, $265bn in the UAE and $232bn in Kuwait. On Thursday, the market capitalisation of the GCC stock exchanges stood at $1.083trn, a decline of nearly $71bn from February 29, according to the Arab Monetary Fund report.
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