JEDDAH: Arab bourses dipped by more than $18 billion in most of June and the bulk of the decline was in the markets of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with the UAE gaining over $3 billion, official data from Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) said Sunday. The bourses followed international markets which slumped amid concerns that the United States economic recovery is faltering and rising fears that Europe's sovereign debt crisis will intensify and slow the global economic recovery. The bourses were also adversely impacted by the escalation in regional political tensions that suppressed investors' sentiment which was reflected in lower level of trading activities across the board. From around $955.9 billion at the end of May, the combined market capitalization of the Arab world's 14 official stock exchanges, excluding those in Sudan and Algeria, plunged to about $937.2 billion on June 23, a decline of $18.7 billion, AMF data showed. The report further showed that collectively, Arab market capitalization on June 23 was nearly $16 billion below its level at the end of 2010, when it stood at around $953 billion. Saudi Arabia's Tadawul, the largest and busiest bourse in the Middle East, was the main victim, slumping to around $343.3 billion from $358.2 billion, a decline of nearly 14.9 billion, the report noted. Qatar's market, which had steadily climbed in the previous months of this year, shrank to around $120.6 billion from $123.1 billion. Kuwait's bourse edged down to about $109 billion from $110.9 billion in the same period. Bahrain remained unchanged at $19.2 billion while Oman rose slightly to about $10.9 billion from $19.8 billion. The UAE was the main gainer in the region, with Abu Dhabi's exchange gaining more than $two billion to reach $73.1 billion compared with $70.5 billion. Dubai's bourse also grew by nearly $600 million to $54.7 billion from $54.1 billion. Outside the Gulf, Egypt's market maintained growth for the second month and increased to $72.3 billion from around $71.9 billion. Morocco's bourse tumbled to nearly $63.8 billion from $66.3 billion while Jordan also dipped to nearly $28.4 billion from $28.8 billion. Lebanon's Beirut bourse remained at $17.6 billion while Tunisia edged up to around $10 billion from $9.7 billion. The Palestinian bourse dipped slightly to $2.83 billion from $2.85 billion while Syria's bourse dropped to $2.04 billion from $2.3 billion. A breakdown showed gainers over the past six months were Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and Egypt. Losers were Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia. TASI rises on optimism The Saudi stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index closed 0.85 percent higher at 6,511.94 points, but still down 3.3 percent in June, as investor optimism about earnings outweighed concerns over global markets. “What's happened in the global markets is really concerning, but why we did not correct is because we expect very good earnings for (the) second quarter,” said a Riyadh-based fund manager on condition of anonymity. Saudi Basic Industries Corp rose 1.2 percent and Saudi Kayan Petrochemicals gained 1.7 percent. The two main sectors, petrochemicals and banking advanced 1.3 and 0.2 percent respectively. “After this, the hype will go and what you're left with is global concern. If we lose or have concerns on demand for petrochemical, our market cannot sustain,” the fund manager said. Second-quarter earnings will trickle through within the next two weeks. Dubai's benchmark slipped 1.1 percent to its lowest close since March 22.
