Mubasher: The GCC equity market index witnessed a relatively smaller decline of 2.6% in March 2026, contrary to the sharp decline in global markets, according to a recent report by Kamco Invest.
The performance in the Gulf capital market was led by gains in Saudi Arabia and Oman that offset sharp declines in the rest of the markets.
Dubai’s DFM witnessed the biggest monthly decline in the GCC with a fall of 16.4%, signaling the largest fall since March 2020 and the second biggest since a similar oil crisis-led decline in 2014. This was followed by Abu Dhabi’s ADX with a fall of 8.9%.
Kuwait, meanwhile, showed a sharp recovery towards the end of March and closed the month with the smallest decline of 1.8%.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s TASI continued to show resilience during the crisis with a gain of 5% due to the relatively smaller impact from the war as well as due to 9.8% gains in Saudi Arabian Oil Company’s (Aramco) stock.
On the sector-level performance, the GCC witnessed a mixed trend with real estate and transportation showing double digit declines during March while defensive sectors like pharma, F&B and healthcare showed healthy gains.
In addition, the energy sector gained 5.4% in March 2026.
On the global level, equity markets witnessed declines across the board as investors feared a larger fallout from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East region, according to Kamco Invest report.
Global financial markets lost more than $7 trillion in March, led by the current conflict. The MSCI World index dropped 7.4%, reflecting double-digit declines in Asia Pacific and the broader emerging market universe.
Advanced markets also witnessed high single-digit declines, with European benchmarks falling by 8%, while the US indices showed recovery on the last day of March to close with a decline of around 5%.
On the commodities front, crude oil prices witnessed the second-biggest quarterly rise of the century with prices almost doubling, in line with doubling of gas prices in Europe.
Kamco Invest concluded that expectations of interest rate cuts were off the table, although recent dovish comments from the Fed calmed investor fears of rising funding costs.
