For much of 2009, Arab stock markets as a whole significantly underperformed other frontier and emerging markets, despite relatively healthy oil prices.
Investor wariness was reinforced by a series of shocks in the Gulf in particular. Last year began with investment company defaults in Kuwait, and ended with a debt restructuring in Dubai. In between, the traditional summer lull was shattered by the defaults of two leading Saudi family groups, virtually unheard of in the Middle East.
Over the past 12 months, the MSCI Arabian Markets index chalked up a gain of only 15.7 per cent, compared to the 69.5 per cent rally of the Emerging Markets index. Excluding the Gulf bourses, the MSCI Frontier Markets has risen 22.4 per cent over the same period.
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