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Dubai, Abu Dhabi best-performing GCC markets in August

While most markets in the region remained range-bound last month and ended with mostly positive performance, the DFM General Index reported gains for the second consecutive month during August-2022

Dubai and Abu Dhabi were the best performing stock markets in the GCC in August with a return of 3.2 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively as the region’s aggregate index showed flattish performance with a marginal gain of 0.3 per cent, according to a report by Kamco Invest.

While most markets in the region remained range-bound last month and ended with mostly positive performance, the DFM General Index reported gains for the second consecutive month during August-2022. The benchmark witnessed the best monthly performance in the GCC with a gain of 3.2 per cent to close at 3,443.1 points. The index witnessed consistent gains during the first half of the month and remained largely range bound during the second half. However, despite two consecutive months of gains, the index performance remained in single digits in terms of year to date-2022 returns that stood at 7.7 per cent, the second smallest in the GCC after Bahrain.

Backed by positive investor and business sentiments, Abu Dhabi was the second-best performing market in the GCC during August. The FTSE ADX index was up for the second consecutive month with a gain of 2.2 per cent during August-2022 to close at 9,874.5 points. The index touched a historical record high of 10,298.6 points on 11-August-2022 but consecutive declines for the rest of the month eroded most of the monthly gains with the index closing below the psychological mark of 10,000 points.

In Dubai, trading activity showed strong recovery during the month with both volume and value traded more than doubled vs. July-2022. In terms of sector performance, the Real Estate index accounted for the bulk of the gains during the month with the benchmark up 12.3 per cent followed by Financial Services and Services indices with gains of 5.1 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively. “Gains in the Real Estate index reflected strong performance of large cap stocks in the sector.”

Shares of Emaar Properties were up 13.8 per cent during the month followed by Deyaar Properties and Emaar Development with gains of 9.0 per cent and 8.6 per cent, respectively. Shares of Union Properties also gained 7.3 per cent during the month. Shares of Emaar Properties gained after the company announced the sale of Namshi to Noon.com for $335.2 million resulting in a profit of Dh628.7 million in the transaction, Kamco Invest report said.

In terms of year to date-2022 performance, Abu Dhabi continued to lead with a world leading performance of 16.3 per cent closely followed by Qatar’s 15.5 per cent and Oman with a return of 11 per cent.

Abu Dhabi was the second-best performing market in the GCC during August-2022 backed by positive investor and business sentiments during the month. The FTSE ADX index was up for the second consecutive month with a gain of 2.2 per cent during August-2022 to close at 9,874.5 points.

The index touched a historical record high of 10,298.6 points on 11-August-2022 but consecutive declines for the rest of the month eroded most of the monthly gains with the index closing below the psychological mark of 10,000 points.

The gains since the start of the year continued to remain one of the highest in the world at 16.3 per cent, also the highest in the GCC. In terms of market cap, the month closed above the Dh2 trillion mark at Dh2.04 trillion, one of the highest monthly close for the exchange. In terms of sector performance, the basic materials index topped with a gain of 10.4 per cent followed by financials and utilities indices with gains of 5.6 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively.

Trading activity in the GCC also showed significant improvement compared to last month with aggregate value traded reaching $60.4 billion as compared to $38.4 billion during July-2022. Volume traded was also at a 4-month high during August-2022 at 23.8 billion traded shares as compared to 13.2 billion traded shares during July-2022.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com