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UAE stocks witness highest foreign buying in Q4 2024 among GCC peers

Overall, foreign investors on GCC stock markets during Q4 2024

Published: Mon 27 Jan 2025, 10:12 PM

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The Dubai Financial Market (DFM). — Photo by Shihab

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM). — Photo by Shihab

UAE stocks attracted the highest foreign investors in the final quarter of 2024, data showed on Monday.

According to Kamco Invest’s GCC Trading Activity Quarterly Report Q4 2024, net buying by overseas investors in UAE equities rose to $2.4 billion during the period, as compared to $2 billion during the previous quarter.

Saudi Arabia was next with net buy trades of $1.1 billion by foreign investors, while the Kuwait exchange recorded net buy trades of $156.5 million.

Overall, foreign investors, including institutional and retail investors, were net buyers on GCC stock markets during Q4 2024 with net buying at $3.0 billion as compared to $3.7 billion in net buying by foreigners during Q3 2024. The trend remained positive since the start of the year with consecutive buying by foreign investors during 2024.

“Some of the key factors that supported the flow of foreign money in the region included regional market trends, IPOs, economic health of individual countries and crude oil prices,” the report, prepared by Junaid Ansari, Kamco’s head of investment strategy & research, and Vineetha K. Yeluri, analyst, said.

Historical trend for trading by foreigners in GCC listed stocks showed declines merely in two quarters over the last five years. Foreigners bought the most stocks during Q1 2022 with net buy transactions of $11.0 billion, reflecting steep increase in buying mainly in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The yearly trend indicated sustained positive activity from foreign investors in GCC exchanges throughout 2024, marked by a substantial rise in total purchasing activity. Foreign investors emerged as net buyers, experiencing an impressive increase, with net purchases amounting to $11.6 billion in 2024, a significant rise from $2.0 billion in 2023. “This represented the highest total net buying by foreign investors in over two years,” the report said.

Aggregate buying by foreign investors over the last five years stood at $48.2 billion with 2022 being the year with the biggest net buying by foreign investors to the tune of $20 billion.

In terms of trading activity on individual exchanges, the Saudi exchange witnessed the biggest net buying by foreign investors during 2024 at $6.3 billion followed by Abu Dhabi exchange and Dubai exchange at $5.4 billion and $572.5 million, respectively. Boursa Kuwait was next with the exchange also seeing consecutive buying by foreigners during the year with $415.8 million followed by Bahrain with $33.6 million.

On the other hand, Qatar exchange recorded the biggest net sales by foreign investors during the year at $690.7 million followed by Oman with net sale at $406.8 million. To attract more foreign investors, Qatar is planning to introduce three significant laws: a bankruptcy law, a public private partnership law, and a new commercial registration law.

GCC investors in other GCC exchanges were net sellers during 2024. Trading by GCC investors (Excluding Abu Dhabi and Bahrain) in GCC exchanges showed net selling during Q4 2024. Net sell trade of GCC investors reached $343.9 million in 2024 compared to a net buy trade of $135.2 million in 2023. Saudi Arabia Exchange witnessed the biggest net buying by GCC investors during 2024 at $649.1 million followed by UAE exchanges at $108.4 million. On the other hand, Qatar ,Kuwait and Oman exchanges recorded the biggest net sales by GCC investors in 2024 partially offsetting the overall buying by GCC investors. In terms of monthly trend during 2024, aggregate trading activity by GCC Investors on other GCC exchanges peaked during June 2024 and hit the lowest trading month in February 2024.

Nine Saudi based stocks ranked among the top 10 most traded GCC stocks by trading value in 2024. Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Co. was the only non Saudi stock included, with a total traded value of $19.8 billion for the FY 2024.

In terms of quarterly performance, the aggregate traded value of the top 10 listed stocks in the GCC stood at $48.0 billion, accounting for 28.4 per cent of the total value traded on the GCC exchanges. Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) topped the list by recording $8.4 billion in trades followed by Fertiglobe and Al Rajhi Bank at $7.5 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively.

The banking sector accounted for the biggest share of value traded in the GCC with an increase of 20.9 per cent to reach $123.0 billion in 2024 from $101.7 billion in 2023. Within the banking sector, Al Rajhi Bank topped with $25.7 billion worth of traded shares during the FY 2024 followed by the Saudi National Bank and Alinma Bank at $12.5 billion and $11.5 billion worth of traded shares, respectively.

Energy, materials and real estate sectors also contributed to total value growth during the year. All the sectors reported a year-on-year increase in traded value, except for the Technology hardware and equipment sector, which fell by 12.8 per cent, and the consumer services sector which declined by 3.1 per cent.

Similarly, in Q4 2024, the total value of the shares traded also increased and was largely broad based. Most of the sectors reported an increase in the total value traded during this quarter. The aggregate value reached $168.6 billion in Q4 2024, compared to $141.4 billion in Q4 2023, up by 19.3 per cent. The key sectors that contributed to the Q4 2024 performance include banks, energy and materials, which saw an increase of 6.7 per cent, 48.8 per cent and 45.5 per cent, respectively.



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