Arab stock markets increased by 4.3% and GCC equity markets rose by 3.9% in the first 10 months of 2012 compared to drops of 13.1% and 10.1%, respectively, in the same period last year.
Activity on the Egyptian stock market increased by 57.2% in the first 10 months of 2012 and posted the best performance among Arab markets during the covered period. It was followed by the Dubai financial market with a 19.7% increase, the Abu Dhabi equity market with an 11.3% growth, Saudi Arabia's stock exchange with a 5.8% rise and the Tunis exchange with a 3.6% improvement.
In parallel, the Casablanca equity market dropped by 13.8% and posted the worst performance among Arab stock markets in the covered period. It was followed by the Iraqi stock exchange with a 12.4% drop, the Bahrain bourse with a 7.6% decline, the Damascus financial market with a 7.5% fall, the Beirut stock exchange with a 5.7% decrease, the Amman bourse with a 3.9% contraction, the Palestine equity market with a 3.8% retreat, the Qatar exchange with a 2.7% decline, the Kuwait bourse with a 0.8% drop and the Muscat equity market with a 0.6% decrease.
In comparison, emerging market equities rose by 8.7% and global equities grew by 10% in the first 10 months of the year. Arab stock markets declined by 0.9% in October compared to a decrease of 0.8% in emerging market equities and a drop of 0.7% for global equities.
Sources: Local Stock Markets, Dow Jones Indices, Byblos Research
3 November
