GCC Equity Research – The Upward Trends in GCC Stock and Equity Funds Growth

All Lipper equity categories ended the 3 months interim on a positive note, with the sole exception of funds invested in Kuwait that lost 0.39%. This was mainly due to the worst performance of the Kuwait Stock Exchange in the second last quarter of year 2009 with index decreasing 2.89%.

On the other hand, investment in emerging markets remained the superlative performers of the same quarter. GCC Equity Indonesia gained 33.74%. GCC Equities research conducted in Russia showed 32.75% increase and for the GCC Stocks emerging markets in Europe rose to 30.21%. Specifying the funds in GCC Equity UAE recorded the best ROI, posting a 22.64%.

UTI International India IT was the top performer fund that was registered for sale in the GCC over the quarter. It gained almost 46%. 12 of the 20 top performers’ funds were investments in the emerging markets, particularly Russia and India. 5 funds among these toppers were invested in Europe, as illustrated by INVESCO Continental European Small Cap Esq. USD A, which increased around 40% for the quarter.
In Asia Pacific, Japan topped the Lipper equity category returns among GCC Domiciled fund investments. It posted a 23.86% gain that was followed by the funds invested in the UAE which gained 22.64%.

The best performance of the quarter was registered by the ADCB MSCI UAE Index, increasing 34.77%. This Emirati-domiciled fund is managed by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank that was benefited from the positive ROI of the markets in Emirates. Among the great strategy behind the investment of Emirati domiciled fund, one was providing investors the MSCI UAE index return.

The 212 Sharia’h-Compliant funds under Lipper registered for sale in GCC Equities increased 6.11% for the third quarter of the year 2009. This brought year-to-date performance to 13.27%.

Noticed during the mid of 2009, conventional funds, gained 12.87% for the third quarter of the year 2009. This was the clear performance against Islamic peers. This situation is mainly attributable to the lack of Islamic funds invested in the markets that are emerging. These Islamic funds were the best performer during the quarter.

As you would have thought, GCC equity research is clearly speaking that GCC Equities were found top of the ranking, recording 9.13% remarkably by the emerging markets bounce; Equity Emerging Markets Global rose 18.04%, and Equity India rose almost 18% for the third quarter 2009. On the other hand, money market funds were at the lowest ROI, remaining flat by posting a marginal gain of 0.06%, dragged down by plummeting Kuwaiti money market funds, which tumbled 2.76% for the third quarter of the year 2009.

NBAD UAE Islamic-Al Naeem was leading performer Shari’ah-Compliant fund in the quarter, increasing 20.80%. Managed by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, this Emirati fund benefited from its biggest exposure to the Emirati Financial Markets.

GCC Equity Research Analyst for Lipper, Merieme Boutayeb Said;

"After a positive second quarter, GCC Equity markets sustained their rising trend during the third quarter. 5 of the 7 local markets recorded positive double-digit ROIs, contributing to a global recovery after the huge losses seen during the 1st quarter and moving these 5 markets to positive territory for the year-to-date. The exceptions were the markets of Kuwait and Bahrain that lost 2.89% and 1.71% in that order."