The market cap of Arab stock exchanges rose 0.52 percent to $4.268 trillion in August 2024, from $4.246 trillion at the end of July 2024, according to the latest release from the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF).
The AMF’s composite index for Arab stock exchanges ended trading in August at 493.83 points, a marginal month-on-month increase of about 0.45 percent.
Egyptian Stock Exchange leads growth
Last month, nine Arab stock exchanges included in the composite index recorded an increase, while six other Arab stock exchanges recorded a decline.
Notably, the Egyptian stock exchange led the Arab stock exchanges with the largest monthly increase of 4.64 percent. The stock exchanges of Beirut, Damascus, Amman and Dubai also recorded an increase ranging between 3.46 and 1.01 percent.
Meanwhile, the stock exchanges in Saudi Arabia, Muscat, Qatar and Tunisia recorded a marginal improvement of less than one percent.
In contrast, the stock exchanges in Casablanca, Kuwait, Palestine, Abu Dhabi, Iraq and Bahrain recorded declines ranging between 0.25 and 2.24 percent.
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The AMF’s latest monthly bulletin revealed market value of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange reached $763.9 billion, that of the Dubai Financial Market was $197.4 billion, and that of the Saudi Exchange ‘Tadawul’ was $2.727 trillion.
The market value of the Qatar stock exchange reached $162.5 billion, the Boursa Kuwait was about $138.8 billion, the Casablanca stock exchange was $73.8 billion, the Muscat stock exchange was $63.8 billion, and the Egyptian exchange was $43.36 billion.
The market value of the Amman stock exchange was $23.7 billion, the Bahrain bourse was $20.19 billion, the Beirut stock exchange was $19.2 billion, the Tunis bourse was $8.52 billion, the Damascus securities exchange was $5.95 billion, and the Palestine exchange was $4.07 billion.
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Factors impacting markets’ performance in August
Last month, Arab stock exchanges witnessed a state of volatility that ended in relative improvement. Sharp fluctuations impacted gains the exchanges had achieved in July against the backdrop of the global financial markets crisis that occurred specifically on August 5.
The financial markets crisis began in the U.S. stock market, which recorded historic losses amid intense selling by investors. This led to a state of panic among investors on Wall Street, which extended to Asian and European stock markets, and to a lesser extent to Arab markets.
Several factors impacted stock markets globally, including escalating fears of a U.S. economic recession which would subsequently spread to the global economies. Another major factor was July’s U.S. employment report which revealed a rise in unemployment to 4.3 percent, making it the highest unemployment rate since October 2021.
In addition, the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise interest rates for the first time in 17 years contributed to sharp declines in Japanese and Asian financial markets.
In Arab stock exchanges, several major sectors contributed to growth in August including the banking, insurance, real estate, and financial services sectors.
The performance of Arab stock exchanges was generally consistent with the performance of the global financial markets, including American, European, and emerging markets. The FTSE, CAC 40, S&P, and Morgan Stanley indices rose, while the Nikkei index recorded a decline of about 1.16 percent. In emerging markets, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index recorded an increase in Arab countries, Asia, and Latin America, while it recorded a decline in Europe of about 2.59 percent.
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