UAE, Saudi stock exchanges surpass Arab markets with $167b in gains

The financial markets of the UAE and Saudi Arabia topped the Arab stock exchanges during the third quarter of the current year, after achieving market profits of nearly $167 billion, according to the Arab Monetary Fund.

The Fund, in its quarterly bulletin on Arab capital markets, which monitors the performance of 15 exchanges, said that the markets of the UAE achieved market gains of about $32.5 billion in the third quarter, distributed in the amount of $20.7 billion for the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and $11.8 billion for the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).

The bulletin explained that the market capitalisation of the ADX rose from $755.9 billion at the end of the second quarter of the current year to $776.7 billion at the end of the third quarter, while the market capitalisation of the DFM increased from $177.8 billion to $189.7 billion.

The bulletin pointed out that the Saudi Financial Market achieved market gains of about $134.1 billion with a rise in its market capitalisation from $2.908 trillion to $3.04 trillion, while the market capitalisation of the Qatar Stock Exchange rose from $162.6 billion to $165.8 billion, gaining more than $3.2 billion.

The bulletin said that the Egyptian Exchange achieved gains of about $7 billion, with its market capitalisation rising from $37.5 billion to $44.5 billion, and the Casablanca Stock Exchange recorded gains of about $1.76 billion, reaching a market capitalisation of $58.9 billion at the end of the third quarter of the current year compared to about $57.2 billion in the second quarter of 2023.

According to the bulletin, the market capitalisation of the Kuwait Stock Exchange reached $133.07 billion at the end of the third quarter of the current year, the Muscat Securities Market to $61.04 billion, the Bahrain Bourse to $20.19 billion, and the Amman Stock Exchange to $23.8 billion.

The market capitalisation of the Beirut Stock Exchange was recorded at about $18.2 billion, the Tunisia Stock Exchange at about $7.4 billion, the Palestine Stock Exchange at $4.88 billion, the Damascus Stock Exchange at about $4 billion, and the Algerian Stock Exchange at $553 million.]]>

Global shares were mixed and benchmark bond yields were steady on Friday after a US core inflation report signalled price pressures are continuing to abate.

US core personal consumption expenditure, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s favoured inflation measure, declined to 3.7% in September from 3.9% a month earlier, a report Friday said.

“Core inflation continues to lose speed,” Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial in Charlotte, said in an email. “This report will not likely change the Fed’s view that inflation will slow in the coming months as demand slows.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.14%, to 32,737, the S&P 500 gained 0.31%, to 4,150 and the Nasdaq Composite added about 1%, to 12,722.

Amazon advanced after beating sales estimates to gain 6.5% in early trading, while Intel Corp shares extended gains, last up about 10%.

MSCI’s all-country equity gauge rose 0.3% following reassuring news on Thursday that the U.S. economy expanded at its fastest rate for almost two years in the third quarter, while the European Central Bank (ECB) also held interest rates steady.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 share index was 0.14% lower and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 1.2%

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury, which moves inversely to the price of the debt security and functions as a benchmark for global borrowing costs, was little changed at 4.849% after scaling 5% earlier in the week.

Still, bond markets held off applauding the news ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate setting meeting next week and as oil prices climbed in response to geopolitical tensions.

Bank of America strategists said that despite unexpectedly strong U.S. economic growth in the third quarter, a slow down to end the year still made “a soft landing more likely than no landing”.

In a note Friday they wrote that globally “markets continue to hope for disinflation to continue smoothly, but don’t take disinflation for granted.”

The Fed is widely expected to keep its funds rate in a range of 5.25%-5.5% next week, although chair Jay Powell has said a strong economy and tight jobs market could warrant more rate rises.

The ECB on Thursday also held its deposit rate at a record high of 4%, although president Christine Lagarde signalled in comments after the decision that further monetary tightening was possible.

Oil prices rose around 1% a barrel as investors priced in fears of an escalation of conflict in the Middle East which could disrupt oil supplies.

In currency markets, the euro was steady at 1.058 per dollar, now down almost 14% in the last three months.

Thanks to rate rises and a robust U.S. economy, the index that measures the dollar’s strength against competing currencies has risen almost 5% in three months and was on Friday on track for a weekly gain, even as it ticked down slightly on the day.

WAM/Agencies