An equity market rally along with a rise in oil prices have helped to push the MSCI GCC aggregate benchmark up by 17.7% in the first quarter of 2022.
The rise is the biggest increase in the index since Q2 2009, before the global financial crisis started to impact international equity markets.
According to Kuwaiti asset manager, Kamco Invest, the index increase followed four consecutive months of gains across the region.
The biggest beneficiary was Abu Dhabi which reported gains of 17.2%, followed by Qatar (16.4%) and Saudi Arabia (16%).
In terms of sectors, capital goods, materials and banks were the best performers with rises of 20%, followed by energy (18.2%) and healthcare (15.1%).
© 2022 funds global mena