MENA market on global investor radar

With the stock market in the GCC outperforming emerging and frontier market alike, investors have begun to notice the region. The largest inflows on record in the UAE and Qatar took place in May 2014. The very strong performance of pan-Arab stock indexes over the past year, which have outperformed emerging- and frontier-market indexes alike, has made foreign investors increasingly aware of the strong fundamentals underpinning a number of markets in the region, most particularly among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members.
This has led to substantial inflows into GCC equities, which has helped boost liquidity, says Gulf News. Net inflows into GCC equity markets from outside the region came to $2.4 billion (AED8.8 billion) in the first six months of 2014, compared with $3.7 billion for 2013 as a whole, while the daily volume of equity trades rose from $2 billion per day in 2013 to US$3.2 billion per day year by end June.
The largest inflows on record in the UAE and Qatar took place in May 2014 — just ahead of their official elevation to emerging market status by index provider MSCI. Increasing inflows have also been met by a rise in initial public offerings from firms in the region, with 16 new listings in the first six months of this year, raising more than $2.4 billion.