Landmark for Saudi stocks as index providers become kingmakers | Financial Times

Landmark for Saudi stocks as index providers become kingmakers | Financial Times:

A landmark year for Saudi Arabia’s stock market will have little to do with Saudi Aramco, the country’s oil giant whose IPO plan has been put on hold.

Instead, the world’s three largest index providers will funnel billions and billions of dollars into Saudi stocks after admitting them to benchmarks whose influence has grown alongside the rise of passive investing over the past decade.

The process, which began this week when FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones added the stocks to their indices, raises questions over what investors will be buying given the country’s largest and highest-profile company, Saudi Aramco, remains state-owned.