Ramadan pause jeopardises rally

As is customary, Ramadan has meant sluggish trading on Gulf stock markets, but unusually, most have managed to carve out some gains.

Bahrain and Kuwait are down but the rest of the markets performed well in September, mostly thanks to international investors re-entering the market, attracted by relatively undervalued stocks. The markets of the United Arab Emirates have done particularly well.

“Ramadan has been better than expected, primarily because foreign investors have been net buyers,” says Fahd Iqbal, an equity strategist at EFG-Hermes, the regional investment bank.

cf:http://www.alphadinar.com/2009/09/09/markets-to-rally-before-the-end-of-ramadan/