Gulf stocks turn the tables on Europe - FT.com

Earlier this year, Gulf investors with European exposure were prospering. Funds for sale in the Gulf that invested in European property and Spanish, Portuguese and French stock markets were the best-performing, returning as much as 16.5 per cent, according to report last month from Lipper, the research group.

Now the tables have turned. The European debt crisis has re-emerged to send those same markets into the doldrums. The CAC40, the main French index, and the Iberian Ibex are down 20 per cent and 17 per cent year-to-date respectively, according to Abu Dhabi-based CAPM Investment.

“Since the beginning of July, with the eurozone crisis and the US debt drama, developed markets have corrected severely and the GCC [Gulf Co-operation Council] markets are now over-performing,” says Mahdi Mattar, head of research at CAPM Investment.

* username: rupertbu