31/12/2010 00:00 AST
Stock markets in the Gulf countries end 2010 mixed, with strong oil prices and the decision to award Qatar the right to host the 2022 World Cup offset by financial shockwaves in Dubai and Europe.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman ended the year in positive territory but Kuwait, Dubai and Abu Dhabi and Bahrain finished in the red, with Dubai topping the list.
All seven markets fluctuated in 2010, particularly in the second quarter, impacted by major economic developments as they tried to recover from the global economic crisis.
All made gains in the second half, tracking oil price movements which breached $90 a barrel.
The Gulf sit on about 45 percent of global oil reserves and around a fifth of natural gas deposits, and they pump around 15 million barrels a day, or 18 percent of world oil supplies.
The seven bourses added around $90 billion to their capitalization which ended the year at $770 billion, according to the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund.
That is still far below their end-2007 value of $1.116 trillion, however.
Higher oil prices have boosted revenues and subsequently increased the Gulf nations’ domestic spending and savings in their sovereign wealth funds.
Qatar Exchange, formerly Doha Securities Market, led Gulf gainers to end the year up by an impressive 24.8 percent at 8,681.65 points, with more than half of that in the fourth quarter.
At half year, Qatar had dropped slightly below 2009’s close, but it made a remarkable recovery in the second half on the back of a booming economy and winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup.
Qatar Exchange capitalization rose by around $40 billion to end the year at $123 billion. Last year, Qatar Exchange index rose by just 1.06 percent.
The Saudi Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI), the most capitalized Arab bourse, ended 8.15 percent higher at 6,620.75 points for the second year in a row, after slumping 56.5 percent in 2008 because of the economic downturn.
TASI was carried on the back of market-leading petrochemicals sector, which includes giant SABIC, that gained 20.8 percent and banks which added 6.7 percent. SABIC alone was 27 percent higher.
TASI hit a year high of 6,929.40 points in late April before plunging to its lowest of 5,760.33 points in late May.
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Agencies
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