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Oman - Investor confidence rises despite decline in the GCC

Wednesday, 05 August 2009 17:18

The investor confidence in Oman rose in the last month despite an overall decline in the GCC Index, SHUAA Capital, the region’s leading financial services institution, said in its monthly GCC Investor Report.

The report draws together the submissions from international and regional institutional investors and starts to formulate the SHUAA GCC Investor Confidence Index. The Index has been designed to provide the global investment community with a benchmark of investor confidence for GCC countries and track changes in investor behaviour over time.

Moreover, Oman Economy Ministry has announced that the inflation index declined from 3.9 per cent to 2.9 per cent as compared to 13.7 per cent in May 2008.

Commenting on the Index findings Oliver Schutzmann, Chief Communications Officer of SHUAA Capital and author of the Investor Sentiment Report said: “The results of the July 2009 GCC Investor Sentiment Report conducted by SHUAA Capital, reveals that the Index remains very much in positive territory, at 123 points. However, there has been a marked fall in confidence amongst international and regional investors towards the GCC, as seen by a 7.8 per cent drop in the GCC Index. Oman, this month’s only gainer in the region, has now overtaken the UAE’s Index and is now ranked third in the GCC, hitting 119.2 points.”

Schutzmann went on by discussing the Oman and overall GCC economies: ”It has proven to be a very challenging month for the GCC economies, with the balance of respondents figure for investors’ perception of current economic conditions increasingly negative, slumping by over 30 per cent this month to -15 per cent. However, a decline in investor sentiment towards current market conditions has not been restricted to just the GCC this month, as the balance of respondents for Global Emerging Markets declined 14 per cent to -5 per cent whilst BRIC countries fell 9.1 per cent to 13.3 per cent.”

“The six month investor outlook for the GCC economy remains positive this month, with a balance of 53.3 per cent, albeit lower than last month’s 65.2 per cent. Despite the 11.8 per cent loss for the GCC, the six month economic outlook for the region compares favourably against both BRIC countries and Global Emerging Markets, which both recorded slightly higher figures of 56.7 per cent and 55 per cent.” Concluding, Oliver Schutzmann said on the Oman stock market: “The Muscat Securities Exchange has seen quite a bit of positive movement this month on its six month outlook, with an increase in its balance of respondents figure by 8.5 per cent on June, to 40 per cent.”

The SHUAA GCC Investor Sentiment Report is a monthly survey which reports on the current and future expectations of the investment community towards the GCC region. Data from the report forms the SHUAA GCC Investor Confidence Index and sub-indices for all six GCC countries. The current survey was conducted between July 5 and 16, 2009. Investors were asked questions about current and future economic conditions, stock markets, sectors and commodities.

Global Arab Network

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Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 August 2009 17:32

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