Understanding the Saudi Market (Re-post)

Saudi Arabia is by far the largest economy in the middle east and currently holds about 24% of the world’s oil reserves. Backed by the strong demographic growth and the increase in domestic demand, real GDP growth had a 5 year CAGR of 4%. By default, this huge economy is reflected in the stock exchange (Tadawul) which is the largest stock market in the middle east, both in terms of market cap and value traded. Tadawul’s market cap is approximately USD230 billion and the average daily traded value is USD1.6 billion; retail investors dominate about 90% of the value traded. Tadawul’s market cap formulates about 38% of the MENA’s market cap.