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Kuwait September 2012 -
GCC Composite was down in September, losing 1.30% after an increase of 2.70% in August. However, except Saudi Arabia all Markets were positive. Saudi lost 4.13% during the month. Kuwait was the largest gainer (4.45%) followed by Dubai (2.00%). Dubai has been the best performing market YTD, with a gain of 16.65%. Abu Dhabi gained 1.71% and Oman gained 0.99% during the month.
News in the region included: - Saudi Arabia's GDP, growth slowed to 5.5% in the second quarter, compared with 5.9% in the previous quarter and 7.8% a year earlier: Central Department of Statistics and Information. - Kingdom Holding Co. will spend 550 million Saudi riyals (USD 146.6Mn) over the next three years to expand its Kingdom Hospital in the Saudi capital. The company gained 7.83% in September and closed at SAR14.45. - First Gulf Bank has mandated eight banks to arrange an USD 800Mn loan to fund its growth and expansion. The company gained 4.71% in September and closed at AED 10.00. - In a filing to the Kuwait Stock Exchange, Commercial Bank of Kuwait (Al-Tijari) announced that it had obtained relevant approvals to hold an extraordinary general meeting to liquidate its subsidiary Al-Tijari Investment (CBK Capital).The company closed flat for the month of September. Volume increased 38% MoM in the GCC and Value Traded increased 28% to USD 39.17 Bn. This was on the back of 17% MoM drop in volumes and 23% drop in Value Traded in August. Saudi Arabia, which accounted for 31% of GCC’s total volume traded, witnessed a 25% MoM increase in value traded.
Most of the World indices ended on a positive note during the month. India BSE (7.65%), MSCI EM (5.84%) and Asia PAC EX JP (5.58%) were the top gainers. Frontier Markets gained 4.04% for the month.
CBOE VIX decreased 9.95% during the month signaling reduced volatility. The CRB commodity index increased by 1.34% at the end of the month.