What’s driving the stock market surge in Saudi Arabia and why

What’s driving the stock market surge in Saudi Arabia and why

The same global phenomenon that's driving amateur traders into equity markets the world over is giving a boost to Saudi stocks at just the time they need it.

Similar to the Robinhood craze in the US, retail investors in the kingdom are piling into small and medium-cap stocks, driving average daily turnover to levels more than double those of a year ago.

That's helped propel a rally in the Tadawul All Share Index, which is poised to be the first benchmark in the Gulf to erase 2020 losses even as the world's biggest oil exporter grapples with a tumbling oil price.

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“We see money chasing good quality companies that were beyond the purview of institutional fund managers,” Joice Mathew, the head of equity research at United Securities in Muscat, said in written comments.