RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) revealed in a recent report, seen by Okaz/Saudi Gazette, that the total trading by Saudis in the US stocks during the year 2020 amounted to SR323.37 billion, an increase of 606.04 percent compared to the year 2019 when it stood at SR45.8 billion. The coronavirus pandemic has been instrumental in the huge rise in the trading by Saudis in the US market, as the jump in trading witnessed mainly from the second quarter until the end of the year. The value of Saudis' transactions in the US market during 2020 accounted for 98.34 percent of the total trading in foreign markets, which amounted to SR328.8 billion during the last year. The US market is the most popular foreign market for the Saudis while the value of trades for all other foreign markets including the Gulf, Arab, Asian and other markets accounted for only a smaller amount of SR5.47 billion. The American stocks had recorded a remarkable rise in 2020, as the Dow Jones index rose 6.9 percent, the S&P 500 indices rose 16 percent, and the NASDAQ index rose by 42.9 percent, as the best annual performance in 11 years. The number of public funds invested in the US stocks reached three funds by the end of 2020, according to the Capital Market Authority (CMA), while the number of funds reached 72 funds in local stocks, 24 funds in Gulf stocks, 4 for Arab stocks, 7 for Asian stocks, 4 for European stocks, and 14 funds in the rest of the markets. It is noteworthy that the CMA report on the trading value of authorized persons or local brokers in the global markets does not include either details of the number of Saudi portfolios abroad or the number of investors trading directly through the foreign brokers.
