Mideast Stocks: Egyptian bourse registers biggest annual gain since 2016

Eastern

31/12/2023 13:18

* 
      Egypt bourse registers strongest year since 2016
    

        * 
      Market buoyed by hedging against inflation and currency
weakness
    

        * 
      Slow demand to keep oil near $80/b in 2024 -poll
    

  
    By Ateeq Shariff
       Dec 31 (Reuters) - Most stock markets in the Middle East
ended higher on Sunday, with the Egyptian index chalking up its
biggest annual gain since 2016, helped by investors hedging
against high inflation and a weak domestic currency.
    Egypt's blue-chip index  .EGX30  advanced 0.8%, extending
its 2023 gains to a 70.5%.
        Top lender Commercial International Bank  COMI.CA  was
up 75% over the year while tobacco monopoly Eastern Company
 EAST.CA  concluded the year 98.5% higher than at the start of
2023.
    Annual inflation in Egypt had been working its way higher
for two years, hitting a record 38% in September. 
    In the past few months an already weakened currency has
plunged to about 50 pounds to the US dollar on the black market
compared with the official rate of 30.85 pounds.
    Saudi Arabia's benchmark index  .TASI  rose 0.3%, up 14.2%
over the year, on expectations of interest rate cuts in 2024. 
    Oil giant Saudi Aramco  2222.SE  added 13.1% for its biggest
annual gain since listing in December 2019 despite receding oil
prices.
    Markets expect the Federal Reserve to start cutting US
interest rates in March, according to the CME FedWatch tool, a
shift from assumptions last month.
    Monetary policy in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council
is usually guided by the Fed's decisions because most regional
currencies are pegged to the dollar.
    However, the Saudi index gains were capped by weak oil
prices.
    Oil prices, which fuel the Gulf economies, dropped more than
10% in 2023, ending a two-year winning streak, as geopolitical
concerns, production cuts and central bank measures to rein in
inflation triggered big price fluctuations.
    A Reuters survey of 34 economists and analysts forecast that
Brent crude will average $82.56 in 2024, down from November's
$84.43 consensus, on expectations that weak global growth will
cap demand. Continuing geopolitical tensions, however, could
provide price support. 
    The benchmark index  .QSI  in Qatar, the world's top
exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), advanced 2.3% but was
up only 1.4% annual for the year.
    US natural gas futures fell nearly 44% in 2023 for their
biggest annual percentage fall since 2006, pressured by record
production, ample inventories and relatively mild weather.
    Elsewhere, the Bahrain bourse  .BAX  registered a 4% annual
gain while the Oman market  .MSX30  was down more than 7% for
the year.
    
 SAUDI ARABIA   .TASI  rose 0.3% to 11,967
 QATAR          .QSI  gained 2.3% to 10,830
 EGYPT          .EGX30  up 0.8% to 24,894
 BAHRAIN        .BAX  added 0.5% to 1,971
 OMAN           .MSX30  rose 0.6% to 4,514
 
 (Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru
Editing by David Goodman)
 ((AteeqUr.Shariff@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822788;))