Arab equity market capitalization reached $4.387 trillion by the end of December 2024, down by 4.1 percent annually, marking a contraction of $185.7 billion following an increase of 12.2 percent in 2023.
The latest report by the Arab Federation of Capital Markets attributed this decline to a 9.4 percent drop in the market capitalization of Saudi Tadawul, from $3 trillion in 2023 to $2.720 trillion in 2024. Despite the notable decline last year, Tawadul still constitutes 62 percent of the total regional market capitalization.
In the UAE, equity markets recorded an increase of $69.2 billion in market capitalization, mainly fueled by a strong economy, increased foreign investments and a steady IPO pipeline. The UAE’s IPO growth was in line with regional trends, providing support to the overall market performance in 2024, with 57 IPOs generating $13.2 billion in 2024, up from 49 IPOs generating $10.8 billion in 2023.
Traded value hits record high of $1.039 trillion
Last year, the total traded value across the Arab equity market recorded a considerable annual increase of 58.1 percent, from $657.2 billion in 2023 to $1.039 trillion in 2024, achieving a record-high level.
This surge was mainly fueled by a 39.7 percent increase in Saudi Tadawul’s traded value and a considerable increase in the Egyptian Exchange’s traded value by 210 percent, both constituting 80 percent of the total regional traded value.
The report also revealed that the total number of trades reached 175.2 million transactions, up by 35.9 percent compared to the previous year, and the total number of traded volumes reached 1.434 trillion shares during the year 2024, up 21.3 percent annually.
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Saudi Arabia dominates Arab equity market
Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul maintained its position as the Arab world’s leading stock exchange last year, making up 62 percent of the total market capitalization. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange followed with a distant 18.6 percent share while the Dubai Financial Market came in third, with a share of 5.6 percent. In fourth and fifth place came the Qatar Stock Exchange at 3.9 percent and Boursa Kuwait at 3.2 percent.
Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul posted marginal gains of 0.6 percent in 2024 mainly due to geopolitical tensions in the region that impacted crude oil prices. During the second half of the year, the index was mainly supported by the secondary listing of Aramco shares which raised approximately $11.6 billion.
Saudi Arabia also dominated Arab IPO activity in 2024, with 15 IPOs on Tadawul’s Main Market and 28 IPOs on the Nomu-Parallel Market, marking a total of 43 IPOs over the year, up from 35 IPOs in 2023.
Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange recorded a 1.7 percent fall in its general index in 2024, marking the second consecutive year of decline for the index after a drop of 6.2 percent in 2023. However, the total market capitalization of companies listed on the exchange increased marginally by 1.2 percent to $816.5 billion, primarily due to the listing of new companies such as Lulu, NMDC Energy, Alef Education and ADNH Catering.
