Regional equities fare well as they look to attract foreign investors - The National

Regional equities fare well as they look to attract foreign investors - The National:

"At a time when the headlines are dominated by talk of global protectionism, it is a welcome development that this region appears to be opening itself up to foreign capital. While US equities that rallied on the arrival of Donald Trump are now turning lower as trade tensions heat up, regional equities are largely holding up on account of reforms designed to attract foreign investors into them. The Tadawul is up 10 per cent year-to-date while the Abu Dhabi Securities exchange is up 6.5 per cent and the Kuwait index by 3.5 per cent. The major global indices, however, are recording losses with the S&P 500 down 2.5 per cent and the DAX and the Nikkei having lost around 5 per cent so far this year. Late last month, the Financial Times Stock Exchange decided to include Saudi Arabian equities in its EM indices. According to the index compiler, the country is expected to have an index weight of 2.7 per cent within the FTSE Emerging Market index. The decision will be implemented in five tranches starting in March 2019 and could lead to passive inflows of as much as $5 billion. MSCI, another index provider, is expected to take a call in June 2018 on including Saudi equities in its EM index. If the MSCI follows in the FTSE’s footsteps, that could lead into an additional passive inflows of as much as $10bn. "



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