Liked a lot: Facebook most-traded stock in GCC

Dubai - Not surprising as social-media giant displayed solid performance in 2015: Saxo Bank

Facebook's popularity isn't anymore just limited to social-media fanatics - it's also a big hit with investors.
The Menlo Park, California-headquartered bellwether is the most popular stock among Saxo Bank's GCC clients in the first quarter of 2016.
The top five most-traded stocks in the region are Facebook, Bank of America, Apple, Halliburton and C-shares of Google parent Alphabet.
This is not surprising, given recent and current market trends.
"This has been a volatile quarter for equities. The European Stoxx-600 index had the worst quarter since
2009," said Fadi Mehdi, head of Saxo Bank's Abu Dhabi representative office.

"I am not surprised to see that Facebook and Apple are in the top most popular stocks among Saxo Bank's clients in the first quarter of the year in the GCC. The companies demonstrated solid performances last year, and investors have continued to buy. However, we have seen some correction in the market. The tech companies are at the battlefront of the new economy and there are strong opinions on the current pricing."     

Saxo Bank's most traded stocks in all markets are Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Vestas Wind

Systems and Alphabet's  A-shares. As for the most-shorted stocks in all markets, it includes Apple, Barclays, Anglo American Netflix and Glencore.
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com