JEDDAH: Arab stock markets end 2010 with a massive gain of nearly $100 billion, the bulk of it coming from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund report said. Yet the value of traded shares plunged by nearly $224 billion as dealers remained wary about economic conditions and foreign investors largely reduced their activities in the region in the wake of the 2008 global fiscal turmoil, it noted. The combined market capitalization of the region's stock exchanges surged to nearly $986.6 billion toward the end of 2010, an increase of nearly $100 billion from around $887.08 billion at the end of 2009. The report showed growth in 2010 extended a capital rise over the past two years, but remained below the peak capital of $1,300 billion at the end of 2007. It dipped to nearly $805 billion at the end of 2008 before rebounding to around $887 billion at the end of 2009, it said. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait were the star performers through 2010, accounting for the bulk of capital increase. Saudi Arabia's Tadawul, the largest in the Middle East, shot up to nearly $353 billion at the end of 2010 from $318.7 billion at the end of 2009, an increase of around 34.3 billion. Qatar's market capitalization soared by $37 billion to $124.9 billion from $87.9 billion. while Kuwait's bourse jumped by about $20 billion to nearly $124 billion from around $104.2 billion in the same period. Dubai and Abu Dhabi bourses shrank by around $four billion and $two billion to reach $54.5 billion and $70.8 billion, respectively. Oman and Bahrain emerged as Gulf gainers, rising by nearly $3 billion each to $21.7 billion and $19.8 billion, respectively. Elsewhere, Morocco's exchange emerged as a key gainer, with its capital swelling by around $eight billion to $68.8 billion. Egypt's bourse, the largest outside the Gulf, dipped by about $two billion to end the year at nearly $84 billion. The markets of Jordan and Lebanon slipped by around $900 million and $200 million to $31 billion and $18 billion respectively. Tunisia and Palestine grew by about $2.5 billion and $200 million to nearly $11.8 billion and $3.4 billion, the AMF report added In terms of trading, turnover in the region's markets plummeted by around $224 billion through 2010. Saudi bourse took much of the decline, which normally accounts for nearly two-thirds of the total value of Arab traded shares. "There was a large decline in turnover in the Gulf and other Arab countries last year to extend a steady fall over in previous years... this is because of lower foreign participation and psychological fears by local investors amidst uncertain economic conditions," said Jamal Ajjaj, a dealer at the Shaarjah-based Al Sharhan Securities, a key UAE stockbrokerage firm. "Normally, trading should be high when interest rates are at one of their lowest levels but this has to do with the general skeptic sentiment after the global crisis and debt default problems in the region." The value of shares traded in the Arab markets slumped to about $343 billion in 2010 from around $567 billion in 2009. It was $891 billion in 2008, nearly $1,009 billion in 2007 and as high as $1,594 billion in 2006. Trading in Saudi Arabia plunged to nearly $189 billion in 2010 from $322 billion in 2009.
