UAE, Oman buck Gulf stock markets decline

TOUGH MONTH: Stock markets in the Gulf generally struggled in February with Qatar the worst performer. (Getty Images)

Qatar's stock exchange was the worst performing in the Gulf in February while Oman and the UAE stayed in positive territory, according to latest statistics.

Analysis by Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) showed that February was yet another difficult month for the GCC, with most stock markets ending the month in negative territory except Oman’s Muscat Stock Market and the UAE markets which gained 0.8 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.

The month’s worst performer was Doha Stock Market, which lost 15.5 percent following a loss of 24 percent in the January.

Kuwait’s Weighted Index ended the month with a loss of 8.2 percent following a 13 percent loss in January.

In February, volume traded in GCC markets was up 42 percent to 22.5 billion shares whereas value traded decreased by four percent to $36.5 billion.

The UAE market topped the charts in terms of contribution to overall volume traded in the GCC, with 49 percent of the total while Saudi Arabia contributed the most to value traded, with 75 percent of total value traded in the GCC in February.

Volatility levels cooled off across the GCC with the exception of Qatar and Dubai. Qatar’s volatility shot up by 70 percent following a spike of 109 percent in January.

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) lost 8.82 percent compared to January, with losses led by the petrochemical and construction sectors.

In Feb, the Kuwait Index fell for the eighth consecutive month, pushed by the investment and real estate sectors. The only sector index to see a gain was insurance.

The UAE markets ended the month on a positive note; the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) gained 2.5 percent while the Abu Dhabi Exchange (ADX) gained 5.3 percent.

The materials sector index in Dubai fell by 21.5 percent, the largest among DFM sector indices, while in Abu Dhabi the real estate and industrial sectors fell by 14 and 13 percent, respectively, while the energy sector gained 30.2 percent.

Big losses on the Doha Stock Market (DSM) were led by the banking and industrial sectors while in Oman, the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) saw banking and industrial sectors gain the most.

Bahrain's index losses in Feb were led by the banking sector, while the only sector index to gain was industrials.

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