GCC sovereign wealth funds accounted for more than half of the value of all state-backed investments made so far this year, according to GlobalSWF. In 1H 2024, GCC funds including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), backed some USD 52 bn worth of transactions — their largest share since 2009.

Oil revenues bolstered Abu Dhabi funds’ spending: Despite market volatility, Abu Dhabi’s funds, including Mubadala and ADIA, are “more active than ever,” buoyed by windfall from oil revenues, GlobalSWF Managing Director Diego Lopez said.

Leading the pack: Saudi Arabia’s PIF led investment activity globally, expanding its footprint through asset transfers aimed at diversifying the state’s funding sources beyond oil revenues.

In contrast to Middle Eastern funds’ robust momentum, global state-backed funds trimmed their spending. Asian funds such as Singapore’s GIC and Temasek scaled back their investments, a trend that has resulted in an overall decline in state-backed investment compared to 1H 2023.

REMEMBER– 2023 was a big year for Gulf wealth funds: GlobalSWF named the GCC the “ region of the year ” on the back of USD 82.3 bn in investment activity in 2023, with assets under management of all GCC funds reaching USD 4.1 tn.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are mixed in early trading this morning, with the Hang Seng leading the gainers (+1.5% at dispatch time) after taking yesterday off for a national holiday. The Kospi (-0.5%) leads the decliners. US equities futures were uniformly (but gently) in the red in overnight trading, while futures for major European benchmarks were largely flat.

ADX

9,060

0.0% (YTD: -5.4%)

DFM

4,057

+0.7% (YTD: -0.1%)

Nasdaq Dubai UAE20

3503

+0.5% (YTD: -8.8%)

USD : AED CBUAE

Buy 3.67

Sell 3.67

EIBOR

5.0% o/n

5.4% 1 yr

TASI

11,659

-0.2% (YTD: -2.6%)

EGX30

27,970

+0.7% (YTD: +12.4%)

S&P 500

5,475

+0.3% (YTD: +14.8%)

FTSE 100

8,167

0.0% (YTD: 5.6%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,930

+0.7% (YTD: +9.0%)

Brent crude

USD 86.68

+2.0%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.48

-4.7%

Gold

USD 2,342.10

+0.1%

BTC

USD 63,250.60

+2.1% (YTD: +49.7%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM rose 0.7% yesterday on turnover of AED 335.8 mn. The index is down 0.1% YTD.

In the green: Al Salam Sudan (+14.9%), Empower (+6.2%) and United Foods Company (+4.4%).

In the red: Dubai Islamic Ins. and Reins. (-5.9%), Emirates Reem Investments Company (-5.1%) and Agility (-3.0%).

Over on the ADX, the index stayed flat on turnover of AED 1.1 bn. Meanwhile Nasdaq closed up 0.5%.

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