The Qatar Stock Exchange topped the highest rises in the stock exchanges of the Arab countries during the first quarter of this year, with a turnover of $470.3 million until the end of last March.
The Arab Monetary Fund revealed in its report issued yesterday by the “Quarterly Bulletin of the Performance of Arab Stock Markets” that the Qatar Stock Exchange led the Arab stock exchanges at the level of the highest increases in trading volume, recording about 4.65 billion shares.
The bulletin indicated that the Arab Monetary Fund Composite Index for Arab financial markets ended the transactions of the first quarter of 2023, up by 0.8 percent, compared to the level recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing it to about 490.4 points at the end of March of 2023, compared to 486.3 points at the end of December 2022. The index also recorded a year-on-year decline of about 3.54 percent in March 2023, compared to the end of the first quarter of 2022.
The performance of a number of Arab stock exchanges was in line with the state of discrepancy recorded in most of the global financial markets and emerging stock exchanges, which were affected by the turmoil in the global financial markets that accompanied the bankruptcy and merger of some banks and the results of the US Federal Reserve meetings during the first quarter of 2023.
10 stocks improved
In light of the foregoing, the performance indicators of the Arab stock exchanges included in the composite index of the Arab Monetary Fund for the Arab financial markets witnessed a variation at the end of the first quarter of 2023, as ten Arab stock exchanges recorded an improvement in line with the rise recorded in the performance indicators of a number of global stock exchanges and emerging stock exchanges.
The continuation of the activity of initial public offerings, the movement of listings in a number of major and parallel Arab stock exchanges, and the rise in the indicators of the banking, telecommunications, services, transport and communications sectors improved the performance indicators of a number of Arab stock exchanges at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
On the other hand, six Arab stock exchanges witnessed a decline in their performance indicators as a result of a decline in liquidity rates, a decrease in market value indicators and indicators of trading values and volumes, in addition to a decline in foreign investment activity at the individual and institutional levels.
The composite index of the Arab Monetary Fund, which measures the performance of the Arab financial markets as a whole, recorded an increase of about 0.8 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2023, compared to the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, while the index recorded a year-on-year decline of about 3.5 percent.
On the individual performance level of the Arab financial markets during the first quarter of 2023, the Algiers Stock Exchange index recorded the largest gains achieved by 13.96 percent.
The Egyptian and Beirut stock exchanges also witnessed an increase of about 11.40 and 13.45 percent, respectively. The performance indicators of the stock exchanges of Dubai, Amman and Damascus increased by 1.90, 3.86 and 9.81 percent, respectively. While the stock exchanges of Palestine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Muscat recorded an improvement of less than one percent.
performance of global financial markets
In the same context, the data indicates that the performance of Arab financial markets during the first quarter of 2023 was generally in line with the performance of global financial markets, which mostly improved, as well as the performance of emerging stock exchanges during the first quarter of 2023.
In terms of developed markets, the “FTSE”, “Standard & Poor’s 500”, “Nikkei” and “CAC 40” indices witnessed a quarterly rise of 2.4, 7, 8.9 and 13.1 percent, respectively. As for emerging markets, the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index (MSCI) recorded an increase during the same period by 0.81 percent in Europe, by 3.09 percent in Latin America, and 4.57 percent in Asia.
The total market value of the Arab financial markets listed in the Arab Monetary Fund database at the end of the first quarter of 2023 declined by about $79.13 billion (or 1.89 percent), to reach about $4,107.90 billion, compared to about $4,187.04 billion at the end of the quarter. Fourth of 2022.
The market value of money markets
At the level of the market value of the Arab financial markets individually, nine stock exchanges recorded an increase in their market value at the end of the first quarter of 2023, compared to the value recorded at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022.
On the other hand, seven other Arab stock exchanges recorded a decline in their market value. The highest rises in the market value were recorded in the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange by about $15.27 billion, and the market capitalization in the stock exchanges of Amman, Khartoum, and Dubai increased by about $1.12, 1.92, and $3.74 billion, respectively. The market capitalization also recorded an increase in the stock exchanges of Muscat, Damascus, Bahrain, Palestine and Algeria, ranging between $84.67 and $913.65 million.
On the other hand, the stock exchanges of Tunisia, Egypt and Casablanca recorded a decrease in the market value during the same period, with a value of 286.32, 1252 and 2412 million US dollars, respectively.
Decrease in the value of traded shares
The value of shares traded in the Arab financial markets collectively decreased during the first quarter of 2023 to reach about $130.29 billion, recording a decrease of about $22.52 billion compared to the value of trading recorded during the previous quarter.
The data shows an increase in trading values in seven Arab stock exchanges during the first quarter of 2023 compared to their levels in the previous quarter, as the value of trading increased by about $470.30 million on the Qatar Stock Exchange, and the Amman Stock Exchange recorded an increase of about $319.20 million. The Palestine and Bahrain Stock Exchanges also recorded an increase of about $33.30 and $6.90 million. The stock exchanges of Algeria, Damascus and Khartoum witnessed an improvement of about 0.1, 2.20 and 97 million US dollars, respectively.
On the other hand, nine Arab stock exchanges recorded a decline in the value of shares traded at the end of the first quarter of 2023, compared to the previous quarter. The stock exchanges of Muscat, Beirut, Tunisia and Dubai recorded declines of about 22.80, 106.80, 160.60 and 915 million US dollars, respectively. The stock exchanges of Casablanca, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi also witnessed declines of about 1.06, 1.56, 2.38, 7.41 and 9.83 billion US dollars, respectively.
With regard to the volume of trading in the Arab financial markets as a whole, it decreased at the end of the first quarter of 2023, to reach about 102.84 billion shares, compared to 131.46 billion shares that were traded during the previous quarter, recording a decline of 21.77 percent.
In this regard, nine Arab stock exchanges recorded an increase in the number of shares traded. Qatar Stock Exchange topped the Arab stock exchanges in terms of improvement in the number of shares traded, registering an increase of about 4.65 billion shares. The stock exchanges of Bahrain, Khartoum and Saudi Arabia recorded increases of about 145, 182 and 452 million shares, respectively. While the stock exchanges of Amman, Palestine, Beirut, Damascus and Algeria witnessed an increase, ranging between 0.01 and 87 million shares. On the other hand, seven Arab stock exchanges recorded a decrease in the number of shares traded for the same period, as the Tunis and Muscat stock exchanges declined by about 30 and 49 million shares, while the stock exchanges of Dubai, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Casablanca recorded a decrease of about 2.48, 2.94, 6.06, 9.44 and 13. 15 billion shares, respectively.
