Tadawul starts to worry investors

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul stock market has long been a favourite of fund managers and analysts, and so far this year its performance seems to have rewarded their faith.

The exchange has consistently outperformed MSCI’s Arabian Markets and Gulf indices over the past 12 months, falling less far during the slump and also enjoying the benefit of the global equity rally since March.

“Saudi Arabia is often seen as a more resilient market because its government finances are strong and it has been less affected than other regional economies,” says Tarek Fadlallah, an executive director at Nomura who predicted Saudi Arabia’s 2006 stock market crash.