Arab News, Monday, Jul 04, 2022 | Zul Hijjah 5, 1443
GCC stocks down for second straight month in June amid recession fears
Saudi Arabia:
Stock exchanges in the Gulf Cooperation Council states logged their second
straight monthly decline in June as fears over inflation and recession rattled
investors.
MSCI GCC Index, which captures the performance of
indexes across the region, was down 9 percent as it exited its worst month so
far this year, a report by Kamco Invest revealed.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia posted the biggest drop of
nearly 11 percent, followed by Abu Dhabi and Qatar with declines of 6.8 and 5.6
percent, respectively.
The Omani benchmark index bucked the trend to
close slightly higher, securing a 0.2-percent gain.
This happened amid worries about rising inflation
and interest rate hikes as well as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and China’s
COVID-19 lockdowns.
That said, the aggregate index is up 2.8 percent
in terms of year-to-date gains, having performed four straight months in the
green before dropping in May.