The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) equity market index closed 2022 with a decline of 6.4 percent after demonstrating one of the most significant gains globally last year, according to a recent report.
Markets in the region remained volatile during the year, and gains made during the first four months were more than offset by declines for most months after that.
A Kuwait-based KAMCO Investment Company report said that the oil market also influenced regional markets, while additional volatility came from volatile global financial markets.
The Russia-Ukraine war and its impact on the global supply chain, especially for commodities, and the strict lockdowns in China affected technology and components supply chains during the year.
The trend in global inflation and the steps taken by international central banks with the unprecedented rate hikes also affected markets. It was worsened by sanctions on Russia that came into effect in December 2022.
According to the market monitoring of the markets of the GCC countries, Qatar reported the most significant decline during 2022, with the DSM Index receding by 8.1 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia, which dropped by 7.1 percent, marking the first decline in the Saudi index after six consecutive years of gains.
On the other hand, Abu Dhabi was once again the best-performing market in the GCC with a gain of 20.3 percent, followed by Oman and Bahrain with increases of 17.6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.
The report said that the global stock markets witnessed a quiet year in light of the decline in the performance of almost all major markets.
Morgan Stanley's global index fell 19.5 percent, reflecting the decline of most major markets in the world, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped about 20 percent during the year, while the rate of decline in emerging markets reached 22.4 percent.
The report indicated that the US technology sector shares suffered a decisive blow during the year, as the "Nasdaq Composite" index lost nearly a third of its value.
UK was the only major market that showed a marginal increase, while India and Brazil were among the emerging markets that recorded good gains.
