By: Mahmoud Gamal
Mubasher: News that MSCI would consider Saudi Arabia for emerging market classification will help the GCC bourses recover on Wednesday, despite the decline of oil prices to a level only seen seven months ago, analysts told Mubasher.
Global index compiler MSCI said on Tuesday it would consider upgrading the Kingdom to the Emerging Market status.
Saudi Arabia's addition to the MSCI Emerging Market (EM) Index Watchlist is an important achievement for the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), which may attract billions of US dollars to listed companies, technical analyst Mohammed Al Shammari said.
The Kingdom's addition to the Watchlist may lead the Saudi stock market to see investment worth $6.5 billion, according to J.P. Morgan.
The announcement comes on the heels of a series of market reforms.
The markets are expected to regain their buying momentum, backed by potential foreign purchases,
The GCC mid- and small-cap stocks are expected to see a sideways-to-positive performance throughout the rest of this week, capital market analyst Mahmoud Diab said.
Blue chips in the oil and gas sector are expected to see a negative performance, dragged down by lower oil prices, Diab added.
Translated by: Julian Nabil
