GCC Investments More Attractive Than South Africa, Investec's Power Says - Bloomberg

Investec Asset Management, a South African company which manages $70 billion, said the Persian Gulf is more attractive for equity investments than either South Africa or Eastern Europe.

“I would put the GCC ahead of South Africa and Eastern Europe,” Michael Power, global strategist at Investec Asset Management, said in a telephone interview from Bahrain today, referring to the six Gulf Cooperation Council states. A higher oil price “means there’ll be signs of life in the Gulf economies so it’s starting to look attractive.”

The BGCC 200 Index, a weighted index of the top 200 equities in the region, is up 7 percent this year, while the South African benchmark stock index has risen 5.8 percent. Gulf economies are forging ahead with spending plans with the price of oil at $82 a barrel, up 3 percent this year.