Vaccine approval helps GCC markets recover most of the year’s losses: Markaz

Vaccine approval helps GCC markets recover most of the year’s losses: Markaz

Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” stated in its 2020 Markets Review Report that GCC equity markets staged a strong recovery towards year year-end after pharmaceutical firms Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, announced the deployment of their respective COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccines were approved and purchased by several governments; including many GCC countries. These developments raised investors' hopes of an eminent recovery in global economic growth in 2021 and helped GCC stock markets recover their losses. Markaz's report also referred to Kuwait's inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which took place in November 2020. Among Kuwait's sectors, insurance was the top performing sector in 2020, rising 24%. Financial services, the sector with the largest market capitalization by aggregate, was down 13% for the year. With regards to stocks in Kuwait's premier stock segment, Human Soft Holding Company was the top performer with a yearly gain of 24%.The Kuwait All Share index declined by 11.7%, while its index PE ratio stood at 20, a premium of 33% compared to S&P GCC index. Regionally, Markaz's report stated that the S&P GCC composite index erased most of the losses for the year and is marginally down 1.7% for the year. Saudi