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Gulf stock markets, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Qatar, have been on a downward trend since the beginning of the year. The Qatar Stock Exchange index saw a loss of 14%, while the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange index dropped by 7.50%. The Saudi Stock Exchange index fell by 3.90%, and the Dubai Stock Exchange index lost 2%. On the other hand, the Muscat Stock Exchange outperformed other Gulf stock exchanges during the first five months of 2024 with an increase of 7.3%, Bahrain by 3.4%, and Kuwait by 2.7%.
According to Kamco Invest’s monthly report on Gulf Cooperation Council countries’ stock market performance in May 2024, Dubai maintained its leading position in terms of price-to-earnings multiples with a multiple of 7.8 times. The overall profitability multiple reached 17 times, with Bahrain having the lowest multiple at 7.8 times, followed by Qatar at ten-five times. The P/E ratio is a classic measure of a stock or index’s value and indicates how many years it takes to recover an investment based on current earnings.
In terms of current return, Dubai and Bahrain were at the forefront with a current return of six percent and eight percent respectively.
Other Gulf markets had varying returns, including Oman at five percent and fifty percent, Qatar at five point one percent, Saudi Arabia at three point six percent, Kuwait at three percent, and Abu Dhabi at two point two percent.
The Gulf stock market index saw a decline for the third consecutive month in May 2024 due to geopolitical issues and a drop in crude oil prices.
The Morgan Stanley Gulf Index experienced its largest decline in seventeen months in May 2024, losing six point four percent of its value and closing the month at six hundred fifty-eight point eighty-five points. The Kuwait Stock Exchange remained stable with no significant change while Saudi Arabia recorded the largest decline during that month with General Market Index (TASI) dropping by seven point two percent.
Sectoral performance also saw declines particularly in industrial and healthcare sectors.
The Bahrain Stock Exchange index recorded a slight increase of .5% in May 2024 while Muscat Market Thirty Index saw
