AFP, Kuwait City :
Stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf surged in the third quarter after a generally weaker April-June period, to accumulate healthy gains for the first nine months.
The rebound in July-September was led by Dubai Financial Market (DFM)
rising 27.9 percent, followed by Qatar Exchange with 19.5 percent, Saudi Arabia 14.1 percent and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange 12.5 percent.
Kuwait’s bourse rose 9.3 percent, while the tiny Omani and Bahraini markets increased 6.8 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar had a weaker second quarter, while Saudi remained almost unchanged and Muscat and Bahrain edged higher.
The UAE-based Arab Monetary Fund attributed the declines to profit-taking on steady gains since mid-2012. The UAE bourses were also hurt by problems associated with Arabtec, Dubai’s leading construction firm.
AMF attributed the positive run to strong fundamentals and high cash flow. In the third quarter, combined market value rose $93 billion (73.8 billion euros) to $1.171 trillion, surpassing its level prior to the global financial crisis of 2008.
The nine-month gain was $207 billion, of which the Saudi market accounted for $115 billion.
The markets have been rising steadily for the past three years, after a slump of several years stemming from the global crisis and the a debt scare in Dubai.
After soaring 107.8 percent in 2013, the DFM Index surged 49.6 percent in the first nine months.
Qatar stocks gained 32.3 percent, to reach an all-time high of 14,350.5 points on September 18 after adding 22 percent last year.
Saudi shares, which gained 19.5 percent last year, increased 27.2 percent in the first nine months, while Abu Dhabi added 19.4 after surging 63.1 percent in 2013.
