International investors back away from Saudi Arabia | Financial Times

International investors back away from Saudi Arabia | Financial Times:

International investors have begun withdrawing funds from Saudi Arabia in response to the geopolitical crisis surrounding its involvement in the death of a journalist and critic of the country’s leadership.

The Gulf nation has courted foreign investors in recent years and is expecting a windfall from its inclusion in the widely tracked MSCI emerging markets index next June. But last week global fund managers withdrew $650m from the country’s equity market, damping Saudi ambitions to move away from its heavy reliance on domestic investors.

“It’s a market I would rather not invest in unless I have to,” said Daniel Vaughan, an investment consultant and fund selector at Morningstar, the data provider and investment manager. “But it’s such a big economy in the region we have to have some investment in Saudi.”