GCC investor confidence rises for third straight month

GCC investor sentiment rose for their third month running in October as confidence continued to rebound in local markets, a new report revealed on Monday.

Shuaa Capital's October GCC Investor Sentiment Report rose by 3.2 percent to 132.2, with Saudi Arabia seeing the biggest improvement from the previous month's data.

And the index's real estate/construction indicators moved into positive territory for the first time since April, Shuaa said in a statement.

The index, which includes submissions from international and regional institutional investors, has been designed to provide the global investment community with a benchmark of investor confidence for GCC countries.

Oliver Schutzmann, chief communications officer of Shuaa Capital, said: "It is very encouraging to see the GCC Index on the rise for the third month running, and not far off its peak of 133.5 in June.
"The GCC real estate, construction & materials sector improved dramatically, turning positive for the first time since April 2009 after a significant jump from -13.7 percent to 13.7 percent of the balance of investors expecting a rise in profitability."

Schutzmann added: "The continued improvement in the GCC Investor Confidence Index was largely driven once again by the positive movement in the balance of investors' perceptions of current regional economic conditions."

In October, this figure moved to 27.5 percent from 15.7 percent last month and a significant improvement on July's recording of 15 percent in July.

The Saudi Arabian Investor Confidence Index jumped the most in October, increasing 11.6 percent to 154.9. Driving Saudi's gain was investors' opinion of the current state of its economy, which doubled in this month's report to 51 percent.

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